Chinese military’s range in West Pacific expands with new early warning aircraft

Radar plane based on Y-20B transport giant will extend the PLA’s reach and anti-stealth capabilities, experts say

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Footage circulating on social media platforms suggests China may have tested its most advanced airborne early warning and control system, the KJ-3000. Photo: X/ 高飞

Published: 4:00pm, 1 Jan 2025

A new Chinese early warning and control aircraft, apparently based on the Y-20, will extend the PLA’s detection capabilities and operating range over greater distances in the contested South China Sea and the western Pacific, analysts said.

The aircraft, believed to be the KJ-3000, made its debut last week, shortly after the unofficial reveal of what appeared to be the Chinese military’s first two sixth-generation fighter jets.

An artist’s impression of the KJ-3000, which experts believe was the aircraft featured in a video which circulated last week on social media in China. Illustration: Weibo / 跨过海峡解放台湾

Over the course of just a few days, China also unveiled the world’s first amphibious assault ship equipped with an electromagnetic catapult system – the Type 076 – as well as the WZ-9, a high-altitude, anti-stealth uncrewed aircraft.

The developments reflected a new “strategic approach” to Chinese weaponry driven by independent innovation, said military analyst Fu Qianshao. “The end of 2024 marks a new historical milestone.”

Footage of a large yellow aircraft with a radar dome on its fuselage that was widely circulated by Chinese social media users on Friday appeared to show an early warning aircraft based on a variant of the Y-20, according to Fu.

The Y-20, believed to be the world’s largest transport plane currently in production, marked a major advance for the PLA Air Force when it officially started service in 2016, with its focus on large payloads and long-range operations.