PRC
In the PRC, later than in the USA and the USSR, they began to create AWACS aircraft, and this path was not easy and full of pitfalls. Nevertheless, the Chinese have made impressive progress in this area. One of the main reasons for the interest of the PLA Air Force in "air radar pickets" was the regular violation of the air border of the PRC by reconnaissance and combat aircraft of the US Air Force and Kuomintang Taiwan. Taking advantage of the weakness of Chinese ground-based radar detection systems, they invaded the airspace in the southeast of the PRC.
Apparently, the Chinese military in the mid-60s was greatly impressed by the adoption in the USSR of the Tu-126 AWACS aircraft with a rotating mushroom-shaped antenna fairing in the upper part of the fuselage. Until the early 60s, the Soviet Union was the main supplier of the latest weapons. In addition to small arms, armored vehicles and artillery, the latest aircraft, anti-aircraft missile systems and radars, by the standards of the 50-60s, were supplied to China. Moreover, many thousands of Chinese engineers and scientists were trained in the USSR, technical documentation and industrial lines were transferred. All this made it possible for China to make a significant leap forward in ensuring its defense capability and even to start developing nuclear weapons. But in the early 60s, relations between the USSR and the PRC began to deteriorate, which affected military-technical cooperation, and by the time the Tu-126 with the Liana radio complex was put into service, sending it to China was out of the question.
In this situation, the Chinese specialists had to rely only on their own strength. Back in 1953, the PLA Air Force received 25 Tu-4 long-range bombers. In China, these machines outlived the piston bombers of Soviet long-range aviation by far. If in the USSR Air Force Tu-4 was written off in the mid-60s, then in the PRC they were operated until the early 90s. It was on the basis of the Tu-4, which was the Soviet analogue of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, in China that they decided to build their own AWACS aircraft. However, the Chinese designers had no choice, since the Tu-4 was then the only suitable aircraft platform.
For the alteration, one bomber was allocated, while it was significantly modified. Since the installation of a radio engineering complex weighing 5 tons and a disk-shaped rotating antenna on pylons with a diameter of 7 meters increased the aerodynamic drag by 30%, the power of four standard piston air-cooled engines ASh-73TK was not enough. As a result, it was decided to equip the first Chinese AWACS aircraft with AI-20K turboprop engines. Shortly before the aggravation of relations in the PRC, a package of technical documentation was handed over for the An-12 military transport aircraft with a powerful theater of operations created under the leadership of Ivchenko. Simultaneously with the establishment of the construction of the An-12, Chinese enterprises mastered the production of engines, which received the designation WJ6.
Compared to the piston ASh-73TK, the WJ6 turboprop had a greater length, which affected the controllability and stability of the aircraft. The problem was solved by increasing the span by 400 mm and the area of the horizontal stabilizer by 2 m². Also, vertical washers were installed on the tips of the horizontal tail and the keel ridges. To accommodate operators and equipment, the bomb bay had to be completely rearranged.
Testing of the aircraft, designated KJ-1, began on June 10, 1971. It took only 19 months to convert from a bomber to an AWACS aircraft. But the tests themselves were very difficult. Already during the first test flight, it turned out that the prototype aircraft had very poor controllability, while the crew was annoyed by the strongest vibration caused by the impact of a bulky antenna on the tail unit. On the Tu-4, the piston engine propellers had right-hand rotation, and on the AI-20K, the propellers rotated to the left. At the same time, a heeling moment arose, which had to be parried by reworking the control and changing the balancing. Solid propellant boosters were used to improve takeoff performance.
According to its flight data, the KJ-1 differed little from the Tu-4. The maximum take-off weight of the AWACS aircraft became 3 tons more. But thanks to more powerful engines, the maximum speed remained practically the same - 550 km / h. Patrol speed - 420 km / h. The plane could stay in the air for about 10 hours. Crew of 12 people.
KJ-1
No less problems than the engines and controls were caused by the radar equipment; during test flights, failures constantly occurred. At the same time, a significant part of the elemental base of the radio engineering complex was assembled from Soviet components or devices in pilot production. In the 60s, semiconductor elements were just beginning to be introduced in the USSR, and for a completely understandable reason, almost the entire element base of the Chinese radar was built on electrovacuum devices. Poor protection against high-frequency radiation caused many problems for the crew. However, on the Soviet Tu-126 in this regard, much was also not ideal. Apparently, the Chinese specialists failed to create equipment for automatic data transmission to interceptors and ground command posts. In the PRC in those years, there were no automated command and control systems, and there were no specialized interceptors either. The J-8, the first Chinese air defense interceptor fighter, was put into service only in 1980.
During the tests, the KJ-1 spent several hundred hours in the air. With great difficulty, the radio engineering complex was brought to a working condition, and it demonstrated good results. The radar of the first Chinese radar patrol aircraft detected large high-altitude air targets at a distance of 300-350 km, large surface targets - 300 km. However, it was not possible to achieve stable detection of aircraft against the background of the earth's surface. Even the much more advanced radio-electronic industry of the USA and the USSR managed to solve this problem only in the late 70s - early 80s. To select air targets against the background of the earth, sufficiently productive computers were required, which, of course, could not have been in China at that time. In addition, the reliability of the equipment left much to be desired, and the guidance of fighters could only be carried out by radio, in voice mode. All this reduced the combat value of the AWACS aircraft, and it was considered inexpedient to adopt it into service in this form.
The first Chinese AWACS aircraft KJ-1 in the exposition of the Beijing Aviation Museum
In the 70s, the capabilities of Chinese radio electronics were clearly not enough to create a truly effective, reliably working radio engineering complex. At the moment, the first Chinese AWACS aircraft KJ-1 is on display at the Beijing Aviation Museum.
Despite the first failure, the PRC did not lose interest in radar patrol aircraft, but they decided to create them at the first stage, relying on foreign assistance. In the 80s, work on this topic was concentrated in Research Institute No. 38 of the CETC Corporation, in the city of Hefei, in Anhui province. Currently, this research organization is one of the leading Chinese centers in the field of developing radar systems for defense purposes.
In the 1980s, the PRC and Western countries were “friends” against the USSR, and China gained access to some relatively modern types of Western-made weapons. This "friendship" ended in 1989 after the suppression of student protests in Tiananmen Square. However, by that time, Chinese experts had managed to familiarize themselves with a number of modern weapons, including aircraft radars.
Before the termination of military-technical cooperation, several American AN / APS-504 radars were sent to the PRC, which were later used for installation on Y-8 aircraft (the Chineseized An-12). The AN / APS-504 surface lighting radar, which scans the space in the lower hemisphere, is capable of detecting large surface targets at a distance of 370 km.
Y-8X
The first aircraft, known in the West as the Y-8X, made several long-range reconnaissance flights in the waters of the East China and South China Seas, along the coasts of South Korea and Japan in early to mid-1986. During these flights, fighters of the Air Force of the Republic of Korea, the Air Self-Defense Forces of Japan and the US Navy were repeatedly raised to meet the reconnaissance aircraft. In addition to the radar, on board the Y-8X were electronic reconnaissance and electronic warfare stations, cameras, infrared sensors, a magnetometer, a sonar buoy signal receiver, advanced western-made communications and the Omega navigation system. The rear ramp was hard-wired, and the interior was divided into several compartments for operators and electronic equipment.
According to Western data, a total of four Y-8X aircraft were built. In the second half of the 90s, they were all modernized, while the options for modernization were significantly different. Judging by the set of external antennas and ventral fairings, one Y-8X received a side-looking radar and a satellite communication antenna, two more aircraft are used for radio and photographic reconnaissance, and one aircraft was converted into the Y-8J variant.
In August 1996, bypassing the sanctions imposed against the PRC, the British company Racal Electronics delivered 8 Skymaster aircraft radars, the transaction amount was $ 66 million. At a range of 80-90 km, the radar is capable of detecting submarine periscopes. Low-altitude air targets with an RCS of 5 m² are detected at a range of 110 km. The radar can simultaneously observe 100 aerial and 32 surface targets.
Eight military transport aircraft Y-8 were allocated for the installation of radars, initially it was planned to install search radars on SH-5 seaplanes, but this was later abandoned. Converted aircraft with the characteristic "beard" of the radar received the designation Y-8J. According to the official Chinese version, these machines were intended to combat smugglers and to “explore the oceans”.
Y-8J
In addition to radar, aerial cameras, additional bombs and buoys, the aircraft received enlarged fuel tanks, which increased the duration of patrols to 11 hours at a speed of 470 km / h. The maximum speed of the aircraft is 660 km / h. 3-4 people are employed in onboard equipment maintenance. The total number of the crew is 7-8 people. According to Global Security, the Y-8J was commissioned in 2000, after about 10 years the patrol aircraft underwent modernization. The means of displaying information have changed, instead of monitors with CRTs, color LCD displays have been installed. The airborne equipment includes modern radio intelligence stations and new communication facilities. After modernization, the aircraft received a dark ball color. Albeit with some limitations, the Y-8J became the first Chinese AWACS aircraft capable of directing combat aviation.
On a permanent basis, the Y-8X and Y-8J are based at the Laiyang airfield in Shandong province and the Datchang airbase in Shanghai. The patrol aircraft Y-8X and Y-8J, despite their small numbers, became in the PLA Navy one of the main instruments for controlling the oceanic expanses. In the past, they regularly escorted American AUGs and controlled the actions of the Japanese fleet, as well as made provocative flights over the disputed Paracel Islands, Spratly Islands, and the Jongsha Islands. According to Military Balance 2016, the PLA Navy operates eight Y-8J aircraft.
The Y-8J marine radar reconnaissance aircraft, equipped with not the most modern British radars, became the first machines of this class in the PLA Navy. Due to their characteristics, they do not fully meet modern requirements and have become transitional models to more advanced models.
In the second half of the 90s, the PRC began to create an aircraft capable of performing the same functions as the Russian Il-20M or the American E-8 JSTARS. Tu-154M received from the USSR were used to place the reconnaissance equipment. According to various sources, from 4 to 6 airliners have been converted into the version that received the designation Tu-154MD in the West. The first aircraft equipped with special equipment took off in 1996, it carried a garland of different-caliber antennas in the lower part of the fuselage.
The first version of the reconnaissance Tu-154MD
According to information published in the Chinese segment of the Internet, a radar was installed on the plane, consisting of a Type 4401 transmitter and a Type 4402 receiver with a maximum range of 105 km, which was almost 2.5 times less than the capabilities of the American E-8A with AN / APY radar. -3.
Later, a Type 863 radio-technical complex was created for the Tu-154MD in the PRC, and the aircraft acquired its current finished form. In front of the fuselage is a long "canoe-shaped" synthetic aperture radar antenna, which has become a kind of "calling card" of ground-based radar reconnaissance aircraft. Closer to the tail section, there is another fairing with an antenna for the electronic reconnaissance system. The aircraft also carries a wide range of high definition television and infrared cameras. Unfortunately, the composition and capabilities of the equipment of the Chinese Tu-154MD reconnaissance aircraft are not disclosed, it is said that in a number of characteristics the Chinese aircraft is superior to the E-8C with the AN / APY-7 radar. However, the American aircraft of the JSTARS system is not intended for conducting optoelectronic and electronic reconnaissance, while the Chinese Tu-154MD has such an opportunity, which significantly expands the range of its application. Information transmission in real time is carried out through satellite communication channels, or over a radio network using repeater aircraft.
Due to poor-quality ground service in the PRC in the 90s, there were two Tu-154M disasters, in which more than 220 people died. As a result, in 1999, all "Tushki" were removed from passenger traffic and converted into reconnaissance aircraft. These vehicles retained China United Airlines' livery and civil registration numbers.
In the past, our "peace-loving" eastern neighbor and "strategic ally" has repeatedly used Tu-154MD reconnaissance aircraft for flights along the Russian borders in the Far East. These reconnaissance aircraft also actively scan the air defense systems of Japan and South Korea and regularly meet in the air with foreign fighters.
At the end of 2004, it became known about the appearance in the PRC of a new Y-8G radar and electronic reconnaissance aircraft, created on the basis of the airframe of the improved Y-8F-400 transport aircraft.
Y-8G
The Y-8G features two protruding antennas on the sides between the cockpit and the wings. In addition, the front of the aircraft was completely redesigned.
The composition and purpose of the radio engineering complex are not known for certain, but, according to a number of Western experts, antennas resembling "hamster cheeks" are designed to scan water at a great distance. Recently, representatives of the Chinese Research Institute No. 14, which was responsible for the development of the radio-technical complex, announced that the aircraft could also be used for long-range observation of the battlefield. In addition, the Y-8G carries powerful electronic warfare stations. Antennas are installed at the top of the keel and in the tail of the aircraft. Unlike earlier models of radar reconnaissance aircraft based on the Y-8 transport aircraft, the Y-8G's fuselage does not have portholes. Four Y-8Gs have been built, according to information released by US intelligence services.
In 2011, it became known about the creation in the PRC of a new maritime patrol aircraft with a powerful radar. The vehicle, designated Y-8Q, is based on the Y-8F-600 passenger and transport vehicle. The aircraft is powered by new WJ-6E turbofan engines with six-blade propellers. Weighing 61,000, the aircraft is capable of covering a distance of more than 5,000 km and patrolling for 10 hours. The maximum speed is 660 km / h.
Y-8Q
Apparently, when creating the Y-8Q, the Chinese designers tried to create a universal vehicle capable of equally successfully tracking surface squadrons using a powerful search radar, searching for submarines, serving as an air command post, and, if necessary, striking with anti-ship missiles, anti-submarine torpedoes and depth charges.
It is not known how successfully the PRC managed to solve this problem, but a number of sources claim that the Chinese, when creating the Y-8Q, borrowed a number of technical solutions from the American EP-3 Aries II reconnaissance aircraft, landed on Hainan Island in early April 2001 after a mid-air collision with the J-8II interceptor.
After a detailed acquaintance of the Chinese specialists with the onboard equipment of the electronic reconnaissance aircraft, created on the basis of the anti-submarine "Orion", the disassembled aircraft was returned to the United States with the help of the Russian An-124. At the same time, the Americans apologized and paid large monetary compensation to the widow of the deceased Chinese pilot.
The onboard equipment of the Y-8Q aircraft, in addition to the radar, includes electronic reconnaissance systems, television cameras, a laser rangefinder and a magnetometer. Acoustic buoys, torpedoes, depth charges and anti-ship missiles can be suspended in the inner compartment on the revolving installation. As of mid-2016, four Y-8Qs were undergoing trials.
On the basis of the Chinese transport Y-8 and Russian Il-76, a number of AWACS aircraft were also created, designed to detect air targets and direct the actions of their aviation. At present, an explosive growth of interest in AWACS aviation is observed in the PRC; several aircraft have been adopted, differing in speed and flight range and types of radars. Intensive work is also underway to create heavy drones designed for remote reconnaissance of ground targets, but this will be discussed in the next part of the review.
