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."
-ends-
Bigger is not always better in Fighting Fire
Probably the same thing we expect a C130 to do - go up in a ball of flame. Big pigs in the sky (I see them weekly, as I live near Naval Base Ventura County and the 146th Air Wing who flies several C130s). This is a transport and firefighting plane. Believe it or not there is a pretty decent worldwide market for amphibious cargo planes and firefighting planes, not to mention many 3rd and 2nd world nations who need lumbering transports for their own military - and amphibious capability is attractive to many of them (who have lots of rivers, lakes, or are multi-island nations).
Sure, it could have military implications - as we've seen, a Cessna 172 can have military/terror applications. But perhaps this is just an amphibious cargo/firefighting plane... Just China testing out the waters as it moves into the aerospace industry as its own force, rather than a pawn of Boeing and Airbus.
I was thinking they would be used to project force into the islands of the ChinaSea, an area that has seen consierable Chinese aggression in the last few years. I could also envision them playing a role in an invasion of Taiwan.
Back in the 50s and 60s there were a lot of interesting amphibian and seaplanes tested out. This appears to be an upgrade of a number of those designs.
I would agree that an aircraft like this might be useful keeping communications with those islands without air fields, but it'd be a sitting duck in a real war. If China invades Taiwan then they will do it with the considerable amphibious force they are building.
The Japanese have been a very similar looking, equally large amphibian since 1989, the Shinmeiwa US-1. Earlier, if you count the non-amphibious version, the Shinmeiwa PS-1, which went into service in 1966.
Here are links containing details and photographs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_Meiwa_US-1A
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShinMaywa_US-2
The Shinmeiwa US-2 (an upgraded version of the US-1) continues in very low rate production today. The Indian Navy has recently placed an order for 18 of the aircraft.
Although not anatomically correct your haiku still gets points for making the effort on a Monday.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_JRM_Mars#Specifications_.28JRM-3_Mars.29
Like the Spruce Goose the Mars is a water-only seaplane, not amphibious.
If you want to see a Mars up close, it just arrived at the EAA convention in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Take off from China fly five feet above the water to Taiwan. Not exactly stealth but damn near it.
It is truly amazing that the guys can keep the Mars flying.
I agree that the closest they will have to an American aircraft would be the C130. But even with that Herc is capable of operating from rough, dirt strips and is the prime transport for paradropping troops and equipment into hostile areas due to its size. But this monster the Chinese have birthed is way too big and requires bigger strips. Herc’s paradropping antics would be a capacity of a size worth working with. In this case, bigger may not be better as if you can’t land it, and you can get along with a less big of a load, what good is building an aircraft capable of bring way more supplies than you can handle or need.
Another problem with it is it would not have the turning radious it might need for combat drops. I worked with a C130 gunship in Brave Shield 13 in the mid 70’s. and it did a very adequate job. But the sighting and delivery package of today would make it obsolete except for short field landing and takeoffs. Andf now you’re back to the Cessna.
red
Of course. And they can just throw a net over the side and catch fish to create a cargo to sell in Taiwan. The Goose only flew once, also. If they’re smart. They’ll sell the plans to North Korea. (They’ll buy anything) And building it should keep them occupied for a while.
red
But the Herc has problems landing on lakes or rivers or the ocean. This plane, not so much...;) Short dirt runways are irrelevant for many places and nations on the Earth, including a lot of those in SE Asia, Micronesia, and Africa (where lakes, rivers and oceans are plentiful).
And there’s a distinct possibility it’s NOT for military applications as well. China is now making passenger aircraft for its own domestic use (just like it makes cars and trucks). Overall I think this is more about China flexing it’s manufacturing/ODM muscles to the 2nd and 3rd world to show it can be a viable civilian/non-military aerospace supplier.
Not to mention they DO have their own issues with forest fires (China is big, about as big as the US). Domestically sourced fire fighting planes would be beneficial for them.
The need for landing military aircraft on water is non-existent right now. Our combat needs, to include logistics, is on the other end of the scale as we are working on desert and plans with armored as the main mobile attack force. We don’t have jungle, or water to deal with. And that’s one of the reasons I called it a white buffalo. They built something they don’t need.
And it has been the practice of China over the last 30 years to build things that they can use militarily and if they can double as a civilian aircraft, they win/win. Maybe it surprises me that they aren’t building another aircraft for military use. I still don’t trust them and probably think the worst each time. I’ve not had good dealings with them in the past in my AFSC/MOS.
red
Study the geography of SE Asia. Look at all the oceans, rivers, and lakes. It's a wetland. And if China's looking for anything to address militarily, it WILL have significant water around it. Signapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, Micronesia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar - all water, water everywhere.
They need it - because the territories they are interested in (SE Asia, with the Spratleys and all) are all very much surrounded and inundated by water. Littoral ships and amphibious craft would be of much better use in those situations, as compared to large planes which need even rudimentary runways. It can take days, even weeks, to hack and level a runway from the mountainous jungles of SE Asia - but you have an infinite number of-premade, unbombable, unblockable runways all over with the water.
China's not looking for a military - right now - that can go toe to toe with the US. Rather, it simply has to be strong enough to give the US pause, and overwhelmingly strong enough to totally dominate any of its neighbors. That's a different set of requirements - and a much lower bar. And it's a bar where amphibious use would be extremely helpful, given the tens of thousands of islands and thousands of wide, long rivers and lakes that surround their region of the world.
Dan,
I agree with you that in country, they could possibly us a water capacity aircraft with all the lakes and bayous they have. But, if they wanted to take it off the coast they would real quickly become as noticeable as an asteroid. Another thing, the landing and takeoff capacity for these are 1640 yards. That’s 16 1/2 football fields. They are going to tear a whole lot of terrain out each time they take one of those things off. downrange. I guess it is their idea of Japanese kama kazi. But the black market will make a bundle after the smoke clears.
red
Totally understand your point, but I think you’re missing mine. For a military aircraft, it needs to be a good support aircraft against the militaries of the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia. NOT the USA. And those nations are rife with waterways and ocean bays.
China’s not going to antagonize the USA any more than it has to; it’s going to try to dominate its own neighborhood first before thinking of expansion that would affect the USA. In that regard, having a good amphibious aircraft that can address the 10,000+ islands of the Philippines, or the 6,000+ islands of Malaysia and Indonesia, is a good thing.
Much of the ocean around that area is as calm as a small lake. Rarely do you get more than 1-2 foot swells or ANY chop. Smooth, glassy bays and water approaches to sandy beaches - perfect for a run-up from this aircraft.
It’s not the wheels that matter - it’s the water that matters. Water IS the way around China, the way around SE Asia. Own that, operate on that, and you win. The ability to use land runways is incidental - probably an add-on.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.