Engineering:KJ-1 AEWC

Short description: Chinese Airborne Early Warning radar fitted to a Tu-4 bomber

KJ-1
KJ-1 AEWC (Tu-4 with radar) at China Aviation Museum
Role	Airborne Early Warning and Control
National origin	People's Republic of China (PRC)
Status	cancelled
Number built	1
Developed from	Tupolev Tu-4

The KJ-1 (from Chinese: 空警; pinyin: Kōng Jǐng, short for 空中预警 kōngzhōng yùjǐng meaning "aerial early warning") was a China experimental airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft, based on a Tupolev Tu-4 bomber aircraft. The project was started in 1969 under the code name "Project 926", but only one prototype was built before the project was put on hold indefinitely until it was finally cancelled in 1979.

Design and development

The KJ-1 was the first-generation AEW aircraft developed by the People's Republic of China. According to Chinese government claims, a single KJ-1 would have functions equivalent to more than 40 ground radar stations, but the test flight in the early 70s experienced severe mid-flight vibrations that could not be solved, and the development was stopped later amongst the political chaos of the Cultural Revolution.

During the Chinese economic reform, the project was once again put on hold due to cuts in military budget as economic development was given top priority. When the project was finally reviewed again in 1978 for the modernization of the People's Liberation Army Air Force , it was considered obsolete, and the project was terminated in 1979. The only KJ-1 aircraft built was dismantled after the project was scrapped, and the KJ-1 now on display at the China Aviation Museum in Beijing is actually a reconstructed replica converted using another Tu-4.

In the KJ-1's place, PRC developed a phased-array radar for its KJ-2000 AWACS aircraft, based on a modified Ilyushin Il-76 airframe.

External links

• KJ-1 at airwar.ru translated from Russian via Google translate
• Photograph of KJ-1 prototype at Datangshan Museum, China