Image suggests KJ-500 variant with IFR probe still undergoing testing

Chinese state-owned media have released an image suggesting that a variant of the KJ-500 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft fitted with an in-flight refuelling probe (IFR) is still undergoing testing.

Published on 3 September on the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)-sponsored China Military Online website, the image shows an aircraft of the type painted in yellow primer at what appears to be the PLA Navy Air Force (PLANAF) base at Lingshui on Hainan Island.

The KJ-500 was shown in the background, while in the foreground a PLANAF KQ-200 anti-submarine warfare (ASW)-capable aircraft assigned to a naval aviation regiment under the PLA’s Southern Theatre Command can be seen preparing to take part in a flight training exercise.

A PLANAF KQ-200 ASW-capable aircraft (foreground) preparing to take part in a flight training exercise on 19 August. A KJ-500 AEW&C aircraft painted in yellow primer and fitted with an IFR probe can be seen in the background parked alongside other aircraft. (Via China Military Online)

The first images of the air-refuellable KJ-500 variant emerged in April 2018 and showed two aircraft of the type – both of which were painted in yellow primer – at the Xian-Yanliang airfield, which is home to the China Flight Test Establishment (CFTE). One of the platforms is known to have arrived at Lingshui sometime between 15 July and 28 August 2020.

The KJ-500 is operated by both the PLANAF and the PLA Air Force (PLAAF).

In its 2020 report on military and security developments involving China, which covered developments until the end of 2019, the US Department of Defense (DoD) noted that China has produced “at least one” KJ-500 with an aerial refuelling probe, “which will improve the aircraft’s ability to provide persistent AEW&C coverage”.