The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has recently added Y-8GX6 or Y-8Q maritime patrol aircraft to its North Sea Fleet, the U.K.-based HIS Jane’s Defence Weekly reported on Tuesday.
Designed by the Shaanxi Aircraft Corporation, the Y-8Q was first revealed in 2011 and entered service in late June. Its mission with the fleet will be to patrol airspace stretching from the North Korean border to Lianyungang in east China's Jiangsu Province, where military jurisdiction passes to the East Sea Fleet, the Want China Times reported on Tuesday quoting state media.
The latest model to use the Y-8/Y-9 platform, the Y-8Q has an estimated operational range of 6,680 kilometers and features large chin-mounted sea-search radar, an electro-optical system aft of the nose wheel, magnetic anomaly detector boom, and domed observation windows on the aft fuselage.
It is also capable of anti-submarine warfare when necessary, and is fitted with air-launched torpedoes, anti-ship missiles, and sonobuoys.
With the Y-8GX6 in service, China is able for the first time to launch routine air patrols over the disputed East China and South China Seas, the Shanghai-based Guancha Syndicate said.
The North Sea Fleet is responsible for the operations in the Yellow Sea, the Sea of Japan, parts of the East China Sea, and the Bohai Sea near Beijing. The fleet has also recently sent patrols over the South China Sea.
The North Sea Fleet's aviation division, dubbed the "Sea Falcons," is so far the PLA Navy's only multi-tasking force capable of air, sea, and space missions, according to the state-affiliated Oriental Outlook magazine.
"The PLA Navy wants to show its muscle to the U.S. and Japanese navies, which have tried to intervene in China's territorial disputes with other Asian countries," said Leung Kwok-leung, a military observer based in Hong Kong.