November 12, 2013: A Chinese KJ500 AWACS (Air Warning And Control System) has been spotted in the air for the first time. This aircraft looks more like the American AWACS (with a round radar dome on top) but is smaller and carried by a four engine turboprop aircraft. Both KJ designs use the same Y-8 aircraft. The KJ500 will supplement and eventually replace the current KJ200 (also called the KJ2000) AWACS that has been in service since 2005. There are eleven KJ200s in service plus four of the export model (ZDK-03) in Pakistan. Pakistan is paying $300 million each for the ZDK-03s.

China has been developing its own AWACS since the 1990s, ever since the U.S. forced Israel to back off selling China the Phalcon AWACS (which used some American technology). China then bought some AWACS from Russia, while hustling to develop their own. The Chinese Air Force was not happy with its four IL-76 AWACS (A-50s from Russia, converted to use Chinese KJ200 radar systems) and smaller systems carried in the Chinese made Y-8 aircraft. The Chinese claim that their phased array AWACS is similar to, and superior in some respects, to the Phalcon radar they tried to buy from the Israelis. The Chinese were to pay about the same price for each of the four Phalcon systems they sought to get from Israel that they are charging Pakistan.

The Y-8 based KJ200 carries a flight crew of five and a mission (AWACS) crew of about a dozen. The aircraft can stay airborne for about seven hours per sortie. The KJ200 radar has a range of about 300 kilometers, and the computer systems are supposed to be able to handle 5-10 fighters at a time and keep track of several dozen enemy targets. The 54 ton propeller driven Y8 (which is based on the Russian An-12) and 157 ton Il-76 jet are apparently considered less reliable, and more expensive to maintain, than more modern aircraft like the twin engine, 79 ton, Boeing 737-800. Chinese airlines (some of them controlled by the Chinese Air Force) have been using the 737-800 since 1999 (a year after this model entered service) but China has not gone ahead and used them for AWACS (which would violate an agreement with the United States).

Meanwhile, neighbor Japan is again updating its 13-year old AWACS (Air Warning And Control) aircraft. This comes after an update in 2010. Unlike U.S. AWACS, that are installed on the 1950s era year old Boeing 707, the Japanese AWACS is built on the 1980s era Boeing 767, which has 50 percent more floor space and twice the internal volume of the 707. The Japanese AWACS will now get the latest electronic countermeasures and communications equipment, which will make the systems more capable and easier to use. The upgrades will cost about $250 million for each of Japan's four AWACS and bring them up to the same standard as the U.S. E-3G Block 45 AWACS. The capabilities of the E-3G are far in advance of the KJ200/500 but the Chinese are closing the gap.

The U.S. Air Force completed testing its latest (“G”) E-3 AWACS upgrades in 2008. This Block 40/45 version consists largely of replacing the 1980s era computers and electronics with modern gear. Japan did some of that in a 2011 upgrade. The Block 40/45 modifications make it possible to more quickly upgrade hardware and software (often using off-the-shelf commercial stuff) in the future. Most visibly, the new software eliminates nearly all of the hundreds of switches and knobs that surrounded the monitors and keyboards of the old model. Now many operations are automated or use point-and-click on a screen, not a separate switch. It’s believed that China is trying to implement this approach in its own AWACS. In any event, China does not have to deal with upgrading 1980s tech in their AWACS.

The AWACS proved to be a key to victory for the United States in the 1991, 2001, and 2003 campaigns. The critical element in this was knowing where all friendly aircraft were at all times. Directing a lot of warplanes over enemy territory has long been a problem. It was elegantly solved with the development of airborne control aircraft like the E-3. But it took over half a century to perfect this approach. The problem was first noted during World War II, when operations involving over a thousand aircraft in the air at once demonstrated how out-of-control things could get. But no technical solution was then available. That is, you could not put a radar in an aircraft powerful enough to get the big picture, the entire picture.

However, the U.S. Navy did plan to use radar equipped TBF (light bombers) Avengers to control the fighter screen protecting the fleet from Japanese suicide bombing attacks during the planned 1945 invasion of Japan. That invasion never came off and the Navy pursued the radar equipped control aircraft idea at a more leisurely pace after the war. The navy E-1 airborne early warning aircraft first flew in 1956 and entered service in 1960. While mainly used to extend the radar coverage of a naval task force, this type of aircraft also had a vital role in controlling large numbers of friendly warplanes in air battles.

The U.S. Air Force also kept working on the problem. By 1953, the Air Force was able to send propeller driven transports (EC 121 Lockheed Constellations), equipped with powerful radar and radio equipment, off the coasts of North America to watch for Russian bombers. Beginning in 1965, the first of thirty EC 121s was sent to Vietnam, where they controlled combat operations in the northern part of the country. As useful as these aircraft were, it was obvious that, with a little more technology, one could control air combat operations more thoroughly and effectively.

The ultimate solution came in the form of a four engine jet transport converted to a flying radar station and control tower. This was the E-3 AWACS, whose development began in the late 1960s. The first prototypes were flying in the late 1970s and the E-3 entered service in 1982. Flying far enough inside friendly territory to avoid enemy anti-aircraft missiles, the AWACS radar has a radar range from between 200 km (for small aircraft or cruise missiles flying close to the ground) to 600 km (for large aircraft flying at high altitude). The AWACS tracks several hundred friendly and enemy aircraft at once. The AWACS acts as an airborne command center for aircraft and friendly planes are kept out of each other's way. For example, there was not a single friendly air to air collision during the 1991 Gulf war or in any subsequent operations using the E-3.

Enemy aircraft are spotted, identified, and friendly interceptors assigned to take care of the hostile planes using the E-3. One or more AWACS is used to control an air operation and each can stay up 11 hours at a time, or up to 22 hours with refueling and extra crew on board to man the equipment. Its first wartime workout, during the 1991 Gulf war, was a spectacular success, often in more ways than anticipated. For example, the use of over a hundred tankers to refuel combat aircraft would not have been possible without the AWACS being there to efficiently link tankers and aircraft needing fuel. Forming up the Wild Weasels, and coordinating their use with the bombers they escorted, was much easier using an AWACS. Just keeping track of who was who and going where would not have been possible without the AWACS.

Japan frequently uses its AWACS to coordinate large scale responses to Russian or Chinese aircraft coming too close to Japanese air space. If nothing else, this shows the Russians and Chinese what the Japanese are capable of. A warning, so to speak, and an impressive one. The Chinese got the message and are scrambling to catch up with the Japanese and the Americans.