The social media user who uploaded the image did not say where or when it was taken, but the medium-sized airborne early warning and control aircraft was clearly identifiable against the sky, with landing gear down. Previous pictures have shown it on the ground.
The plane’s light grey paintwork is consistent with the PLA Navy’s colours, suggesting that the KJ-700 has formally entered service in the naval branch’s air wing.
Visible features include its thimble-shaped nose cone, the distinctive pod below the cockpit, and large rectangular radar fairings on the rear fuselage. Part of the aircraft’s rotodome can also be seen.
Military website The War Zone said the KJ-700 appeared to combine airborne radar with an array of electro-optical and infrared sensors, “likely intended to track targets across air, sea, and potentially land domains”.
Like its predecessor the KJ-500, the new aircraft is based on a Y-9 platform – the medium-weight transport plane powered by Chinese-made WJ-6C engines and six-wing propellers.
An unofficial diagram previously published in the Chinese military magazine Naval & Merchant Ships, showed numerous sensors on the KJ-700, including what may be dual-band active electronically scanned array (AESA) antennas in the fairings of the rear fuselage.
