Observing the PLA Navy Hawkeye Clone at Xian

David Axe, writing for the Diplomat Blog, is discussing a picture that has recently been floating around the internet. A few weeks ago, while everyone else was discussing the stealthy blackhawks that supported the operation to kill Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, nerds like Feng and I had our eyes on this very fuzzy photo suggested to be some sort of PLAN imitation E-2 Hawkeye.

It is very hard to tell anything from this photo, but there is a lot we know if indeed it is some sort of Hawkeye imitation. First, David Axe misses something important with this suggestion.

In any event, if the Xian photo indeed shows a naval radar plane, then Shi Lang will be a much more capable vessel than originally projected.

Not quite. There is no chance this aircraft will ever be deployed on the Shi Lang, and I believe it is the same reason why we don't have a good, clear picture of this aircraft. The issue is an imitation E-2 would struggle to take off on the Shi Lang, because any aircraft as big and heavy as an E-2 would absolutely require a catapult launch - and Shi Lang doesn't have catapults.

I don't believe it is possible that the Chinese aviation industry has advanced far enough to build an E-2 clone that is both operationally effective and can take off from an aircraft carrier without a catapult. That doesn't pass the smell test.

If indeed China is building several of these "Hawkeye" imitations, then the key detail we would be learning is in regards to the kind of new aircraft carrier China would supposedly be building. We'll have to wait to see better pictures before we can say we know anything for certain, but while we wait for better understanding of new Chinese aircraft carriers, we can safely say that AEW for Shi Lang will be restricted to helicopters unless that ship suddenly has catapults installed somehow.