JSR
The radar itself is made by Vega in year 2000. and it was put into original 4 A-50E. and it cannot be replaced by AESA without OEM. Just the weight difference on such large plane would not allow it.
The prototype KJ2000 first flew in 2003 with a fixed radome containing an AESA radar so clearly they did do it. They had OEM help in the form of the work they paid Beriev to redesign and rebuild the il76 to carry the Elta Phalcon. China substituted the Phalcon for an indiginous radar developed by the 14th institute. Lets have a look at a picture of that aircraft again shall we JSR and compare it to an A-50:
Notice the fixed dish radome with three arrays and the large aft fuselage strakes. This is the prototype KJ2000 that flew in 2003. This is a known fact witnessed and photographed by many people.
Now lets look at an A-50
Here we see a Russian airforce A-50, notice it has a rotating dish radome and lacks aft fuselage strakes. There are numerous detail differences.
Nobody here is denying that the Chinese didn’t use information from Beriev to build the KJ-2000. The Chinese had paid Beriev to develop the structural changes needed to install the Phalcon AESA system, Beriev delivered that airframe to China. The Chinese installed their own radar on that airframe and then proceed to adapt a further three airframes with their own refinements. This is really simple JSR. If the Chinese were operating an A-50E variant from 2003 on it would have significant structural differences. There are thousands of pictures now of the four KJ-2000 in Chinese service and they are significantly different from an A-50E. They look very similar to an A-50EI which is entirely logical considering the Chinese had purchased a very similar aircraft until it was cancelled by Israel under American pressure.
JSR China doesn’t operate the A-50E! It just doesn’t! There is not one shred of evidence it does! If it did Beriev would of said something about it! China operates four il76 based KJ2000. There are literally hundreds of pictures of the KJ2000 in Chinese service! It has significant differences from an A-50! China ordered the A-50I in 1997, India ordered the A-50EI in 2004 a mere four years later. Even the Indian airforce itself has stated that their fleet of A-50EI are based upon the work already done for the earlier A-50I.
This is a picture of a KJ2000 in China being flown by Chinese people:
The KJ-2000 first flew in 2003 and the type officially entered service in 2009, not an unreasonable time frame. The KJ2000 is a UNIQUE aircraft it is not an A-50 or an A-50I/EI. Why are you unable to accept the Chinese have done this JSR? Why won’t you accept an actual picture of the aircraft?
Wow I come back from a weekend away hiking and camping with my girlfriend, log into Key Pub and you have blown my mind JSR! REALLY?! Are you totally ignorant of the Chinese attempted procurement of the Elta Phalcon radar system to be installed on an il76 airframe???????????? REALLY!? I am staggered! You are either trolling us or your lack of knowledge about the defence aerospace industry has plumbed new depths! WOW just WOW!
It was one of the most reported and controversial deals of the late 90’s and resulted in significant diplomatic tensions between Israel, China and the USA yet you have no knowledge of it, REALLY?! It was reported in the mainstream press and you don’t know about it. Oh well lets give yet another lesson shall we JSR.
In 1997 China signed a deal with Elta of Israel to procure the Phalcon AEW&C system on an il76 airframe.
JSR
Where you get this information that Israel gave asea tech in 90s to China? How can Israel modify A-50 airframe for AESA or any radar.
They didn’t. Israel did not do the airframe modification, that was contracted to Beriev. China procured the airframe from Russia, Beriev modified the airframe to be suitable for the Phalcon AESA system and the aircraft was dispatched to Israel in 1999 for installation of the mission system and radar. In 2000 the order was cancelled under American pressure and the Chinese who had paid for the airframe had it delivered to China with the structural and power modifications but with no mission system or radar. Again this WAS VERY WELL REPORTED JSR!
JSR
No one gave technical modification information to Chinese in late 90s and there is no such thing as AESA made in china that time.
I did not say Israel gave China AESA tech JSR (albeit it is strongly rumoured they have over the years). China was buying a complete AEW&C system from Elta that was brand new and effectively unique at the time. Do you really think they would do that with no access to technical specifications?! Elta of Israel was the contractor with Beriev of Russia acting as a sub contractor and the PLAAF of China was the customer. The customer specified what they wanted, the prime contractor put together a proposal and gave it to the customer.
In fact heavier antenna of AESA took 4 years for Beriev to do structural tests for A-50EI.
Do you know who paid Beriev to do that structural development and test work to install the Phalcon AESA on the il76 JSR? It was China! The A-50EI for India is a sub variant of the A-50I that was proposed and purchased by China. The A-50I for China came before the A-50EI for India, the Indians benefited from the ground work for the prior contract. AGAIN this is VERY WELL reported JSR!
JSR
It is with citation. 4 A-50E. 300 track and 250 mile range.
The first citation you give is out of date and only speculates about a Chinese A-50E procurement, the second article also speculates about it but also talks about the cancelled A-50I procurement from Israel. Way to go there JSR your own citation shows you to be wrong.
There has been zero evidence of any serious Chinese negotiations for the A-50E. It is speculation, no more and should be paid no attention considering more recent events.
JSR
Extremely slow progress on Y-20 shows that china has very limited ability to do structural modifications with large planes in year 2014 let alone in 1999.
And this is when you finally travel off into your own fantasy twilight zone JSR! I am going to put a picture below then we shall have a talk about it:
Can you see that il76 there JSR with all the Chinese writing on the side? that is airframe 762. It is the prototype KJ-2000, it is the airframe that was going to be an A-50I until the contract was cancelled. In 2000 China was left with an airframe adapted for an AEW&C, they instigated a crash program (rumoured to already of started prior to contract cancellation) with the 14th Institute developing an AESA dervived from that of the Lanzhou class destroyer. It flew in 2003!
I am now going to show you another picture JSR:
Same aircraft, well no this is a different one. You see if China had no ability to adapt large aircraft how come they adapted another THREE without any help from the outside world! China currently operates four of the KJ-2000!
Don’t believe me, well why don’t we watch this nice news report where they not only the KJ-2000 flying but also the factory doing the conversion work:
This is a picture of the inside of a KJ2000 with PLAAF sensor operators at mission consoles:
How about this picture of the prototype compared to a production example:
So far three of the four are in squadron service, whilst they did have plans for more Russia has not been able to sell more airframes at a reasonable price and appears that the Chinese are awaiting the Y20 to mature and procuring smaller KJ200 in the meantime.
Now as for AESA developments in China they also operate the smaller indigenous KJ-200 mentioned above that uses a balance beam radar mounted on a Y-8:
Here is a nice video of it operating out of Zhuhai:
The Chinese have also developed the ZDK-03 AEW&C for Pakistan, it uses a twin plate rotating AESA. It was built to Pakistani specifications, AGAIN WELL REPORTED and I think the Pakistani airforce would notice if the aircraft they now operated lacks an AESA radar.
Or is it just one huge conspiracy for you JSR? the KJ-2000, KJ200 and ZDK-03 are actually all fakes?
Come on grow up, this has been a bit of an epic post but this is getting tiresome JSR. If you had bothered to type in China and KJ2000 into a search engine all this information would of been available to you. Instead you make yourself look silly talking about A-50E deals that never happened.
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