Posted on 07/25/2016 5:21:31 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
The first AG600 amphibious aircraft rolls off a production line in Zhuhai, in south China's Guangdong Province. The aircraft will be used to fight forest fires and perform marine rescue missions. (Xinhua photo)
GUANGZHOU, Xinhua --- China has completed production of a massive amphibious aircraft that it plans to use to fight forest fires and perform marine rescue missions. The AG600 rolled off a production line in the southern city of Zhuhai on Saturday, in what aviation observers see as a milestone for the country.
The aircraft has a maximum take-off weight of 53.5 tonnes, a maximum cruising speed of 500 km per hour, a maximum flight range of 4,500 km, and a maximum endurance of 12 hours, according to state aircraft maker the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).
The 37-meter-long AG600 with a wingspan of 38.8 meters is by far the world's largest amphibian aircraft, about the size of a Boeing 737, according to AVIC deputy general manager Geng Ruguang.
In addition to taking off and landing like an ordinary plane, the AG600 can also take off and land from stretches of water that are at least 1,500 meters long, 200 meters wide and 2.5 meters deep.
It is destined to become an important part of China's resources for dealing with emergencies. According to the original design, it can collect 12 tonnes of water in 20 seconds, and transport up to 370 tonnes of water on a single tank of fuel.
With excellent maneuverability and a relatively wide range of search scope, the AG600 is capable of rescuing up to 50 people far offshore.
Besides, it is very useful in developing and exploiting marine resources, being adaptable to conduct marine environmental monitoring, resource detection and transportation.
It is the result of nearly seven years of work by a group of 70 aircraft component manufacturers and research teams with over 150 institutes from 20 provinces and municipalities in China. The development and production of the plane received government approval in 2009.
"The AG600 is like a ship that can fly, with advanced gas-water dynamic engineering and underwater corrosion resistance technology," said Huang Lingcai, chief designer of the plane.
According to the AVIC, the AG600 will mainly target the domestic market. Seventeen intent orders have been placed so far.
The unveiling of the AG600 came shortly after Chinese heavy transport aircraft the Y-20 officially entered military service on July 7 and China's first large passenger aircraft, the C919, rolled off the final assembly line in November 2015.
Geng described the AG600 as "the latest breakthrough in China's aviation industry, which demonstrates an overall improvement of China's national strength and research capacity."
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Hmmmm. I wonder if a Chinese amphibious assault plane might be adaptable to other more militaristic purposes ...
Does this remind anyone else of Hitler’s construction of a wartime navy even though it was restricted by the Treaty of Versailles? How gullible do the Chinese think we are?
Wait. Don’t answer that.
It is interesting the way they divert water from the engines while the aircraft is at high speed on the water, such as when touching down or just before taking off.
It looks like there is a fence all around the bow, with small slots at the top to allow the water to escape down and away from the engines. The aircraft must touch down pretty fast (about 65 knots, I would imagine), so control of splash is critical.
wingspan: 320 ft weight: 150 tons
The Spruce Goose was not amphibious.
largest float plane ever
when denied aluminum
was made out of spruce
Oh no, I hosed it up on the first line with six syllables.
Damn you decaf!
Like what? ASW? You don't need an amphibious aircraft for that.
I still ask “why?”
Return of the Spruce Goose.
What you build when you have too much money.
Rapid deployment to those small S China Sea islands is the role of these planes.
There are two phrases Chnese aviation has problems with:
1. “Quality Control”
2. “Safety Margin”
Until they become more conversant with these phrases, they will have problems in the international market. I understand they’ve come a long way, especially as subcontractors for Boeing and Airbus. But their all-up, whole aircraft designs will have to be safer and higher quality.
CC
Probably will get a lot of use going from mainland China to the Spratley Is (the disputed islands between Vietnam and the Philippines).
Sure it was! It was made of wood! It floats!...................................B^)
Amphibious means capable of operating from land or water. The Spruce Goose couldn’t take off or land except on water. I suppose it could have landed ashore, but that would have wrecked it pretty thoroughly.
I am fascinated in what they expect a prop driven, non-stealth, much slower than an F-22 fighter or missiles to do. It takes off and goes to another location with absolutely no cover to do what? And it is visible on Pave Paws far before it reaches altitude. At least during the time of the spruce goose, there were no jet transport aircraft in existence and it was a worthless novelty.
My congratulations to China. They just reinvented the white buffalo. Wonder how many body parts it took to fund it?
red
Not the biggest by a long shot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_JRM_Mars#Specifications_.28JRM-3_Mars.29
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