The road of the Yun 20 is getting wider and wider, and in the field of cross border early warning ai

Mondo Military Updated on 2024-01-31

As the People's Liberation Army enters the era of air police 500, we are increasingly finding that whether it is the air force or the navy, the anxiety of early warning aircraft has basically disappeared, but this does not mean that the air police 500 will be the end of China's early warning aircraft.

1. China's early warning aircraft, there are new movements

It is undeniable that after the Air Police 500A was installed with an air receiving pipe, its comprehensive performance has climbed all the way and reached the world-class level, but the Y-9 platform it uses is still almost meaningless.

In future air combat, the strong electronic warfare capability and the popularization of stealth aircraft will greatly compress the detection distance of the radar of the early warning aircraft, so it is necessary to increase the size of the radar antenna, that is,For the upgrade of AWACS aircraft, it is essential to extend the detection distance.

In the PLA sequence, the Air Police 2000 is the earliest early warning aircraft in service, and due to its small number, the appearance rate has become lower and lower in recent yearsTherefore, retirement has also become its only option.

It is worth noting that the retirement of the Air Police 2000 does not represent the decline of China's early warning aircraft, but a stronger rise.

A few days ago,Western satellites overrode and found that there were three disc-shaped radar antennas of different sizes and shapes on a phased array radar ground test bench in China.

Through the comparison of relevant data, it can be basically judged that the fixed three-sided active phased array radar on the far left is the air police 500, and the mechanical rotating two-sided passive phased array radar specially used for Pakistan's ZDK-03 early warning is on the right.

The one in the middle, it should be similar to the ZDK-03 two-sided array, but the size is much larger, obviously this is not the fixed three-sided active phased array radar of the Air Police 2000, it is more like the Air Police 3000!

2. Yun 20 changed clothes to work, and lifted 3000 air police

If the Air Police 500 is only two generations ahead of the United States, then the Air Police 3000 will be the new standard for global air combat in the future.

As mentioned above,Due to the Yun-9 platform, the Air Police 500 cannot realize its greater potential in many aspects, while the Air Police 3000 is different, it is based on the Yun-20 platform.

The use of large-caliber antennas is also to adapt to the needs of future air combat, because there will be many fifth-generation aircraft with efficient stealth capabilities on the battlefield in the future, and even by 2030, sixth-generation aircraft with stronger comprehensive performance may also appear.

Previously, the Air Police 2000 used the Il-76 transport aircraft as the carrier platform, but the number of Il-76 transport aircraft equipped in China is not much, and then because of the inability to guarantee delivery, the Il-76 transport aircraft procurement project was blocked, and we will not build more Air Police 2000.

Nowadays,China's Y-20B with domestic WS20 engine has begun to enter service in batches, and on this basis, the development of the Air Police 3000 early warning aircraft is at the right time.

The Y-20B has achieved a new breakthrough in carrying capacity, which can be equipped with a larger-caliber early warning radar antenna, and some netizens even opened their minds, saying that they can develop an early warning aircraft with conformal array antennas on the basis of the Y-20B.

But no piece of equipment can be flawlessAlthough the Yun-20B has enough load, it is very troublesome if it is not, which will limit the Air Police 3000 operation to a certain extent.

In this case, it becomes especially important to expand the depth of defense.

3. There is an "east wind" in defense, and the first island chain is really dead

At China's doorstep, the U.S. military has been upgrading its military deployment, and the bases in Japan and South Korea have introduced a lot of U.S. military equipment over the years.

First, the deployment of the second island chain is also escalating.

If the Air Police 3000 is dispatched, it should soon be targeted.

For example, the U.S. B-2, B-21, B-52, B-1B, and other types of aircraft can launch cruise missiles and hypersonic missiles thousands of kilometers away from China's coastline to carry out military strikes against China's coastal and in-depth targets if they are deployed in forward areas.

Therefore, coordinated operations and joint deployment have become the key means for the PLA to deal with extraterritorial forces in recent years.

It is reported thatAt present, the PLA Navy and Air Force and the Rocket Force already have the capability to seize air and sea supremacy within 1,000 nautical miles, and the first island chain established by the US military has long existed in name only.

Some military experts said that in terms of the PLA's long-range strike capability, in the event of a conflict, all US military bases on the first island chain will be destroyed by the PLA within a few hours.

Judging from the current situation, although the US aircraft carriers are still active in the waters around China, they absolutely do not dare to further test the first island chain, and can only withdraw their forces to the second island chain.

And the B21, which the US military is proud of, is not particularly reliable.

4. B21 "has passed the pass", and the service is far away

Previously, the U.S. military boasted that in the context of the continuous improvement of the stealth performance of the B21, the Chinese early warning aircraft can only be detected within 120 kilometers, which has caused widespread doubts from people from all walks of life.

First of all, regarding the performance of the B21, it has always been said by the US military itself, which lacks favorable data support, andThe specific parameters of the radar used by China's early warning aircraft have always been highly secret, and how did the US military come to the conclusion that "the visual range is only 120 kilometers"?

Upon investigation, this is an outright lie.

On the contrary, it has made the outside world question the ability of the B21 and whether it can be successfully used in the future.

According to the source, the improvement of B21's "stealth capability" will have to pay many costs, and its speed, cost and armament will be deeply affected by its stealth ability.

Since 1993, the cost of a single aircraft has exceeded $2 billion for the development and procurement of the B2 stealth bomber, and today in the 21st century, as a cutting-edge fighter that "sharpens a sword in ten years", the cost of the B21 will only be higher.

Even if the U.S. military is willing to open the "golden finger" and grit its teeth to withstand the high cost, its performance will not be able to achieve a crushing advantage when dealing with the PLA.

Even if the B2 bomber has been in service for 10 years, the logistics support system is still a large logistics station, resulting in a fixed starting point for its flight.

In the past, perhaps this was not a problem for the US military, whose former adversaries lacked the ability to give early warning from high altitudes or even low rails. However, if the opponent is replaced by China, in the context of the continuous improvement of the PLA's early warning capabilities, B21 will need to break through many more difficulties.

Conclusion: Do you know anything else about the upgrade of China's early warning aircraft troops?Feel free to leave your views and stories in the comment area.

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