Chinese navy commissions anti-submarine patrol aircraft

Beijing, Jul 7: China has developed and commissioned a fixed-wing, anti-submarine patrol aircraft similar to American P-3C Orion which will significantly boost the Chinese navy’s operational capability, official media reported today. The Chinese navy has got a four-engine Gaoxin-6, anti- submarine aircraft developed and manufactured by Aviation Industry Corp of China based on the Y-8 transport plane, state-run China Daily reported today. It has been delivered to the Beihai – or North Sea – Fleet of the People’s Liberation Army navy, it said. The aircraft can easily be distinguished from other Y-8 variants by its large sea-search radar, mounted below the cockpit, and the magnetic anomaly detector boom that looks like a metal tail. It is China’s first large aircraft specifically designed for anti-submarine warfare, making the country the sixth nation that has the development capability for such a sophisticated plane till now developed by United States, Russia, Japan, the UK and France, the daily said. The most-deployed anti-submarine aircraft is the US’ Lockheed P-3C Orion, which often appears in naval confrontations between the US and China.