World’s biggest flying boat is able to patrol disputed islands
CHINA: The world’s largest amphibious aircraft has completed a maiden one-hour test flight, in a move that is likely to be interpreted in the West as boosting Beijing’s ability to extend its territorial claims in the South China Sea.
In its test flight on Monday, AG600, code-named Kunlong, with a wingspan of 38.8 metres, was airborne for 64 minutes across the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai. About 3000 people watched the flight on television.
The plane has yet to undergo the more challenging tests on water.
However, the authorities in Beijing said: ‘‘The success of its maiden flight marks a major breakthrough in the development of special-purpose aircraft in our country’s aviation industry.
‘‘It is another important milestone in the development of China’s civil aviation industry, following the successful maiden flight of the C919 large passenger plane.’’
As part of Beijing’s ambition to cement its status as a world superpower, China is expanding its aviation industry. It is building the C919 passenger aircraft to rival models made by Airbus and Boeing.
The country conducted a successful maiden flight of the C919 in May.
Huang Lingcai, the AG600’s chief designer, said: ‘‘It’s both a boat that can fly and a plane that can swim.’’ Kunlong is the name of a mystical flying fish.
Huang said the amphibious aircraft was designed for civilian purposes, primarily to extinguish forest fires and for sea rescues.
On a single firefighting trip, the Chinese say, the AG600 can carry enough water to cover an area of 4000 square metres. With a full tank of fuel, the plane can carry and dump as much as 370 tonnes of water.
On the sea, it can fly a maximum distance of more than 4000 kilometres and rescue up to 50 people on a single trip.
Huang said its flying speed, at 460 kmh, made it far more practical than rescue ships, and it could stay in the air for up to 12 hours.
Western intelligence agencies suspect that the aircraft was also devised to help China to press ahead with its land grab in the South China Sea islands.
Huang said the plane had the capability to patrol the entire South China Sea, where Beijing is in dispute with Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan over territorial claims. Beijing’s controversial island-building projects have raised tensions in the region.
Fu Qianshao, a military expert, told the state-controlled newspaper Global Times that the amphibious aircraft could be modified for military use as an anti-submarine reconnaissance aircraft or an amphibious early warning plane.
Xinhua, the state news agency, described it as ‘‘protector spirit of the sea, islands and reefs’’.
Fu said the plane’s storage area could be modified to carry military equipment and weapons. Its amphibious abilities could also be used for the Chinese navy’s increasingly frequent deep-sea drills.