The surprise the Chinese PLA gave to the US military, with over 50 KJ-500 AWACS aircraft already in service and KJ-3000 about to be put into operation, will revolutionize modern air combat.

This latest India-Pakistan conflict has showcased a new paradigm of modern air combat globally, which is that under the command of an AWACS, fighters can lock onto enemy aircraft in advance and then use beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles to destroy enemy aircraft from 100 kilometers away.

As long as the AWACS is powerful enough and the range of the beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile is sufficient, fourth-generation fighters can also defeat fifth-generation fighters. And China's KJ-500 is undoubtedly the strongest AWACS in the world.

While the US military's AWACS are still using mechanical scanning radars and naval AWACS are equipped with gallium arsenide active electronically scanned array radars, China's KJ-500 directly adopted digital radar technology, capable of identifying and locking onto even F-35 and F-22 fighters.

The detection range of the KJ-500 for fighter targets exceeds 470 kilometers, capable of simultaneously tracking hundreds of aerial and maritime targets, including stealth aircraft, cruise missiles, and ships. When US fifth-generation fighters approach the East China Sea, the KJ-500 commands J-20 fighters for interception. Even when US fifth-generation fighters visually spot the J-20, their radars remain silent.

Moreover, not long ago, our J-10C flew over the Red Sea. Under the electronic deception of the KJ-500, the radars of two US carrier strike groups failed to detect the J-10C. This fully demonstrates the terrifying performance of our KJ-500.

Now, China's KJ-500 has already exceeded 50 units. You see, Russia only has 9 AWACS aircraft, and America's E-3 AWACS has only over 30. The number of AWACS aircraft will directly affect the outcome of current wars.

However, in China, the KJ-500 is also becoming "Niupi" (a term indicating excellence). Because the more advanced KJ-3000 is about to be commissioned. The biggest regret of the KJ-500 is its small platform, while the KJ-3000 is modified based on the Y-20, and a large platform naturally means greater capacity.

As the world's first large strategic AWACS aircraft to adopt "conformal patch" technology, it is also the world's first fourth-generation AWACS. Based on the KJ-3000 as the core, China will construct a vast cross-platform operational network, completely revolutionizing the modern operational system.

In short, when the US military is still in the era of information-based operations, China has entered the digital operation era. In fact, the sense of despair among American military professionals is far more intense than you might imagine. This sense of despair is similar to how we felt in the 1990s facing the US, not just one or two pieces of equipment being backward, but the entire system lagging behind.

India-Pakistan Conflict Rekindles

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1831704220949504/

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