China has a new military aircraft that can detect U.S. combat jets approaching the country’s airspace at longer ranges, experts told Newsweek.
Newsweek has contacted the Pentagon and Chinese Defense Ministry for comment by email.
Why It Matters
Clayton Swope, the deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project and a senior fellow in the Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Newsweek there is some concern that the new Chinese military airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, known as the KJ-3000, “could detect stealth aircraft.”
The ability to detect stealth aircraft could give China a significant new edge, Swope added, which could complicate the U.S.’s ability to project airpower across the western Pacific Ocean, including over the contested South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.
Ok, it goes on and on and on: second surprise this morning, the new KJ-3000 (?) AEW performed its maiden flight at XAC and from what can be seen on the first few small & blurry images, it is as expected a Y-20B-based design featuring a large rotodome but also a bulge on the tail. pic.twitter.com/MTp9A6dfDh
— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) December 27, 2024
What To Know
The KJ-3000 has a design based on the Y-20B transport aircraft. In December, photos of its maiden flight, which reportedly occurred the month prior, circulated on social media after the emergence of two Chinese next-generation combat aircraft prototypes.
Serving as “eyes and ears” in the air, the KJ-3000 is designed to detect aircraft and cruise missiles and to provide a comprehensive understanding of the operational environments in real time, reported the Aviationist, a military aviation website. It is expected to have a rotodome that houses its radar antenna, which provides 360-degree coverage.
China operates three types of AEW&C aircraft—the KJ-200, the KJ-500 and the KJ-2000—which amplify its ability to detect, track and target threats in varying conditions, in larger volumes, and at greater distances, the Pentagon said in its 2024 report on China’s military power.
The U.S. military has several types of stealth aircraft in service, including the F-22 and F-35 fighter jets and the B-2 and B-21 bombers. They use low observable technology, also known as stealth technology, to become less visible to radar detection.
How Does the KJ-3000 Fit China’s Military Strategy
Kitsch Liao, the associate director of the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, told Newsweek that the KJ-3000 could extend the Chinese air force’s power projection beyond the first island chain, a north-south blockade formed against China by Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines.
Both the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait are within the first island chain, one of the three layers of a U.S. defense concept that seeks to leverage the territories of Washington’s allies and partners in the region to contain the Chinese air and naval forces in wartime.
The KJ-3000 is part of the Chinese land-based airpower, which has a role in the country’s counter-intervention plan to potential U.S. assistance to Taiwan, Liao added. Beijing has claimed the self-ruled island as its own and has refused to renounce using force against it.
Equipped with advanced radar and sensors and offered longer endurance, the KJ-3000 is more capable than its predecessors and enables China to track enemy units, potentially including stealth jets, at much greater distances, David Cenciotti, the editor of the Aviationist, told Newsweek.
The development of a state-of-the-art AEW&C aircraft, as well as advanced missiles and stealth fighter jets, is part of Beijing’s strategy to extend its military operations farther from home and challenge anyone who might “stand in their way,” he added.
The new aircraft represents a significant step forward in completing the Chinese airpower’s counter-intervention posture, Liao said. The aircraft can reportedly reach a higher altitude, providing an estimated radar horizon of 400 km (249 miles)—its maximum detection range.
“Compared with the propeller-driven KJ-500, it [the KJ-3000] can be moved out toward a combat area faster and has better range,” veteran aerospace journalist and former industry executive Bill Sweetman told Newsweek. The KJ-3000 is powered by four turbofan engines.
The aircraft can track targets at long range with enough accuracy to guide long-range antiair weapons, whether launched from fighter jets, ships or the ground, Sweetman said.
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What People Are Saying
Clayton Swope, the deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project, said: “China prioritizes the ability to conduct surveillance across the South China Sea and into the Pacific Ocean to keep tabs on what the United States and its allies are doing there.”
Kitsch Liao, the associate director of the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, said: “The KJ-3000 alone would still be required to operate under the protective umbrella of Chinese land-based IADS [integrated air defense system] or airpower, thus the power projection capability extended by mere advent of KJ-3000 would be incremental and limited without a comprehensive assessment on the overall capability of Chinese airpower to maintain control of the air beyond its coastal safe zones.”
David Cenciotti, the editor of the Aviationist, said: “The KJ-3000 isn’t a game changer on its own, but it’s a key asset to complement the existing fleet of AEW [airborne early warning] aircraft. It highlights how China is trying to catch up with the U.S. and NATO, building the kind of multilayered architecture to project power across the Indo-Pacific and beyond.”
Bill Sweetman, a veteran aerospace journalist and former industry executive, said: “So what we’re seeing is the development and deployment of families of systems, including advanced manned aircraft, strike drones, missiles and sensor platforms. The KJ-3000 is interesting because China has produced four or five large airborne radar systems, and not entirely just to provide information to fighters.”
What Happens Next
It remains to be seen when the Chinese military will officially announce the KJ-3000 and put it into service. Flight tests of the AEW&C aircraft are likely to continue in the new year.
