China's AG600 amphibious aircraft program is nearing completion. It is already clear that the AG600 "Jiaolong" (water dragon) will be the largest production seaplane in existence today. This amphibious aircraft is being developed by the Chinese company Aviation Industry Corporation of China. The work started back in 2009 is estimated at approximately 3 billion yuan. On December 24, 2017, the new aircraft made its maiden flight.
The AG600 amphibious aircraft program was officially launched in 2009 (initially the aircraft bore different designations: JL-600, TA-600 or D-600, the alphanumeric index AG600 was assigned to the aircraft since 2014). At the same time, according to information from a number of sources, work on a seaplane in the PRC began back in the 1980s. According to Chinese media reports, investments in the AG600 development program since 2009 alone amounted to about 3 billion yuan. Initially, the new aircraft was supposed to take off in 2013, but later the dates of its first flight were repeatedly postponed.
For the construction of prototype and serial AG600 amphibious aircraft, the Chinese companies CAIGA and AVIC carried out a complete reconstruction of the ZYAC plant located in Zhuhai. Despite this, the existing production site can only be considered as an assembly site. For the first flight model, the center section, the middle and front part of the fuselage, as well as the wing were assembled at the AVIC Xi'an Aircraft Industry (Group) Company in Xian, the tail section of the fuselage, as well as the tail assembly were assembled at the AVIC Hanzhong Aviation Industry Group Company in Hanzhong., and the Chinese company Flying North was engaged in the production of nacelles. This cooperation may continue in the future. In total, about 150 different research centers and institutes, as well as 70 Chinese enterprises, were involved in the creation and industrial production of the new Chinese seaplane.
The new Chinese seaplane has impressive dimensions. The maximum length of the "water dragon" is more than 39.3 meters, the wingspan is 39 meters, the declared maximum take-off weight is 53.5 tons (in a number of Chinese sources there was mention of a take-off weight of up to 60 tons). All of the above makes the AG600 amphibious aircraft the largest modern seaplane in the world (in comparison with the serially produced Be-200, Bombardier CL-415 and ShinMaywa US-2).
At the same time, in the near future, the AG600 can be removed from the pedestal by another Soviet development - the multipurpose amphibious aircraft A-40 "Albatross" (also known as the Be-42). The aircraft was originally created for military needs, as a replacement for the Be-12 amphibian. The project of this seaplane, equipped with turbojet engines, which the Navy planned to use as an anti-submarine, was stopped after the collapse of the USSR. In total, two copies of this amphibious aircraft were built. Despite the fact that in 1990 it was adopted by the USSR Armed Forces, the A-40 was never mass-produced.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was repeatedly announced both the resumption of production and the complete closure of this program. In March 2016, Colonel Gennady Zagonov, who was the chief of the Naval Aviation of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy, made an official statement according to which the Be-12 anti-submarine amphibious aircraft in service with the fleet will be replaced by the A-40 by 2020. If this actually happens, the Russian A-40 seaplane will become the largest amphibious aircraft in existence today. It will surpass the Chinese "dragon" AG600 in dimensions (length - 45.7 meters, height - 11 meters, wingspan - 42.5 meters) and maximum take-off weight - up to 90 tons.
The first flight of the AG600 "water dragon", which was postponed many times since 2013, took place on December 24, 2017. According to China Central Television (CCTV), the vehicle was in the air for about one hour. According to the TV channel, the new amphibious aircraft took about 600 meters of the runway to gain takeoff speed. During the first test flight, the aircraft climbed to an altitude of 2500-3000 meters, after which it made several maneuvers in the air, including a descent and an imitation of an approach. According to the developers of the AG600 amphibious aircraft, the main purpose of the first test flight was to verify the safety and functioning of the on-board systems.
The Chinese AG600 seaplane has four WJ6 turboprop engines with a take-off power of 5100 hp each, with six-bladed propellers. This engine is a Chinese copy of the Soviet AI-20 engine, created back in 1955-57. In China, it is manufactured by the National South Aviation Industry Company (CNSAIC) in Zhuzhou. The AI-20 engine is famous for its reliability, its different versions could be installed on the military transport An-8 and An-12, anti-submarine Il-38 and amphibious aircraft Be-12. For the first time in the Soviet engine building on the AI-20, the overhaul life, measured in thousands of hours, was achieved, and the assigned resource of the AI-20M modification was 20 thousand hours. The AG600 manufacturing company notes that the new aircraft consists of 100% Chinese parts, however, it was not without borrowing and copying.
Developed by engineers from the China Aircraft Corporation, the seaplane was originally intended for the needs of civil aviation. Currently, it is known about the development of two main modifications of the AG600 seaplane - a search and rescue option (capable of taking on board up to 50 people) and a fire-fighting one designed to fight large forest fires (capable of taking on board up to 12 tons of water in 12 seconds). In the future, it is possible to create other modifications of the amphibious aircraft, including in the interests of the Chinese military. The manufacturer has already announced that there are 17 orders for the aircraft from Chinese customers. At the same time, the details and cost of contracts were not disclosed.
The aircraft can be used by the Chinese People's Liberation Army's naval aviation to protect Beijing's interests at sea, for example, during patrol operations in disputed areas of the South China Sea. Currently, the PRC is carrying out large-scale work on the artificial transformation of reefs in the South China Sea into islands. Thus, Beijing expects to declare them part of its sovereign territory, around which China's exclusive economic zone will extend within a radius of 200 miles. Other states in the region are extremely sensitive to this policy of China, challenging the legality of these actions. Official Beijing considers almost all islands, rocks and reefs in the South China Sea to be its sovereign territory, with which Brunei, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines disagree. The position of these countries in the dispute with China is openly supported by the United States.
Taking into account the policy pursued by China today regarding the islands in the South China Sea, in the future it is quite possible to use the AG600 for military purposes. After the corresponding minor alterations, the amphibious aircraft can be used as an anti-submarine or patrol aircraft, here the ability of the aircraft to stay in the sky for up to 12 hours will come in handy. It can also be effectively used for the transfer of military cargo and servicemen to remote bases or small islands that do not have full-fledged runways.
The AG600 for some time may retain the title of the world's largest seaplane, however, it and the Soviet / Russian amphibious aircraft A-40 are significantly inferior in size to the famous seaplane of the American billionaire Howard Hughes, who, realizing his dream, built the Hughes H-4 Hercules. This seaplane went down in history under the nickname "Spruce Goose" (although in reality it was made mainly of birch plywood). Its wingspan reached 97.54 meters. True, the "Spruce Goose" took off only once, making the first and last flight in its history, lasting about half a minute. Since then, he did not rise into the sky, finding a refuge in a museum in Oregon.
Flight performance of AG600:
Overall dimensions: length - 36.9 m, height - 12.1 m, wingspan - 38.8 m.
The maximum take-off weight is 53.5 tons.
Power plant - 4 WJ-6 theaters with 5100 hp. each.
The maximum speed is 570 km / h.
Cruising speed is about 500 km / h.
The maximum flight range is 4500 km.
Service ceiling - 10,500 m.
Carrying capacity: in the fire version it can take on board 12 tons of water, in the search and rescue version - up to 50 people.
Crew - 3 people.
