Current EW and AEW variants
The two new special mission variants
are the Y-8GX-8 (Y-9JB ELINT) and the
KJ-500H AEW platform. The Y-9JB was
unveiled in April 2011 at the CFTE and
it too is based on the latest Y-8. Little is
known about this aircraft, which features
four large rectangular-shaped fairings
on both sides of the forward and rear
fuselage — reminiscent of an EP-3E. This
has led to the speculation that it is an
ELINT aircraft. Several smaller radomes
are tted on the wingtips, on top of the
mid-fuselage, on top of the vertical tail
n, and underneath the nose as well as
the nose/tail cone. The Y-9JB also has an
EO turret underneath the fuselage for
surveillance purposes.
Following testing between 2011
and 2013, it entered service in early- So far, seven to eight examples
are operational within Northern and
Southern Theater Commands and are
routinely seen ying missions.
The nal member of the ‘New High’
family in Naval Aviation service is the
KJ-500H (also known as the HJ-500).
This type has been under development
since the late 2000s and is a medium-
sized AEW aircraft. In contrast to
its predecessor, the KJ-200, the
characteristic ‘balance beam’ radar has
been replaced by a more traditional
xed rotodome containing three active
electronically scanned arrays (AESAs)
arranged in a triangular con guration.
The radar is allegedly a new system
developed by the 38th Institute, which
uses the latest digital radar technology.
Similar to other members of the family,
this variant features enlarged nose
and tail radomes which could house
additional radar antennas to cover both
the forward and rear hemispheres. It
borrows from the Y-9JB in having the
same two rectangular fairings housing
ELINT antennas on both sides of the
rear fuselage.
Only two KJ-500 prototypes had been
built by late 2013 and the rst serial
aircraft entered service within the PLAAF
at the end of 2014. In April 2015, images
con rmed that the PLANAF has taken
delivery of the rst two KJ-500Hs. By
mid-2018, at least eight were in service
within two naval air divisions andproduction is ongoing. Moreover in April
2018, a modi ed variant tted with an
in- ight refueling probe performed its
maiden ight.The future
There has been considerable
speculation as to how many aircraft of
these types Chinese Naval Aviation will
procure. One theory might be that the
naval air arm has re-established some
of its previously disbanded divisions as
dedicated special mission units. Given
the latest observations of KJ-500Hs
assigned to the newly formed 3rd Naval
Air Division (NAD) in Southern Theater
Command, it makes sense for the aircraft
so far on the strength of the 9th NAD
to have probably been reassigned
from elsewhere. Similarly, assignment
to the 1st NAD within Eastern Theater
Command appears to be con rmed
thanks to new imagery.
While the structure of China’s reformed
Naval Aviation is still not entirely clear,
it is obvious that the electronic support
role will play an important part in its
operational mandate.Above and below:
Left and right
side views of a
Y-8GX-8 (Y-9JB)
ELINT aircraft,
which is thought
to fulfi ll a similar
role to the US
Navy EP-3E.EYE ON THE EAST // CHINESE ELECTRONIC WARFARE
28 October 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net