파키스탄 공군, 중국産 ZDK-03 공중조기경보통제기 도입...

 

파키스탄 공군이 중국으로 부터 도입하는 ZDK-03 Karakoram Eagle AEW&C (공중조기경보통제기) 1호기에 대한

인수식이 지난 14일(토), Shaanxi 省 (陝西省) Hanzhong (漢中) 에 위치한 AVIC Shaanxi Aircraft Industry (Group)

Corporation LTD. (AVIC SAC) 에서 거행되었다는 소식 입니다.

 

파키스탄 공군은 총액 약 2억7천8백만불에 4대의 ZDK-03 기를 도입하기로 2009년초 AVIC Group 과 계약을 맺은 바

있으며, 초도기의 인도 시기는 2010년말로 알려진 바 있습니다.

 

ZDK-03 Karakoram Eagle 은 AVIC Shaanxi 社의 Y-8 Turboprop 수송기에 중국 CETC 산하 38연구소에서 개발한

조기경보 레이더를 장착한 파키스탄 수출용 AEW&C 입니다. 역시 동일한 기체에 중국이 자체적으로 개발한 AESA

레이더를 장착한 KJ-200 AEW&C 보다는 성능이 다소 떨어지는 것으로 알려지고 있습니다.

 

또한 제작사 설명에 의하면, 파키스탄 공군이 도입/운용 중인 쌍발의 Saab 2000 Erieye AEW&C 보다 기체 성능부터

탑재 레이더 성능에 이르기까지 ZDK-03 이 우수하다고 주장을 하고 있습니다. 그러나 현재까지 KJ-200 (ZDK-03) 에

대한 상세한 성능자료는 알려지지 않고 있으며, 일각에서는 美 Northrop Grumman 社의 E-2C Hawkeye 2000 AEW

와 비슷한 성능을 가진 것으로 추정하고 있습니다.

 

참고로 Y-8 Turboprop 수송기는 러시아 Antonov 社의 An-12 를 기반으로 하는 중국 자체 생산 중형수송기 입니다.

 

한편 중국은 2000년대 초반부터 Y-8 수송기를 기반으로 하는 AEW&C 기 개발을 CFTE 와 AVIC SAC 가 공동으로

시작하였으며, 2006년 기계식 회전방식의 조기경보 레이더를 장착한 KJ-200 (Project 021) AEW&C 가 공개된 바

있습니다. 당시에 사용된 Y-8 기는 Category II Platform 으로써 4엽 propeller 를 채용한 것이었습니다.

 

이후 파키스탄 공군에 수출할 목적으로 6엽 propeller 를 채용한 Y-8 Category III Platform 에 동일한 레이더를 장착

한 것이 ZDK-03 Karakoram Eagle 입니다.

 

아래 소개하는 동영상은 이번 ZDK-03 초도기 인수 소식을 전하는 파키스탄 방송사 뉴스이며, 사진은 4엽 propeller

의 Y-8 Category II Platform 시제기 입니다. 끝으로 2009년 2월 Defense News 기사를 붙입니다. 오래 전의 기사

입니다만, 파키스탄 공군의 공중조기경보통제기 도입과 관련된 내용을 이해하는데 도움이 될 것으로 생각합니다. 

 

 

AVIC, Aviation Industry Corporation of China

CETC, China Electronics Technology Company

CFTE, China Flight Test Establishment

 

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Pakistan Surmounts Sanctions To Revive Airpower

By Usman Ansari

Published: 9 February 2009      

 

ISLAMABAD - After years of coping with U.S. and international sanctions intended to keep Pakistan from going nuclear, the country has renewed its air power and obtained vital missile and airborne warning capabilities without Western help.

 

The U.S. sanctions imposed in 1990 did considerable damage to the Air Force. The embargo on the transfer of 71 Peace Gate-III/IV F-16s and their AIM-7 Sparrows kept the service from acquiring a beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) capability. Also beyond reach were airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft, whose capabilities were sorely missed during the 1980s, when Soviet aircraft engaged in combat operations in neighboring Afghanistan continuously intruded into Pakistani airspace.

 

This also left the military at a severe disadvantage against India's much larger Air Force, whose Mirage-2000H and MiG-29As carried BVRAAMs.

 

Islamabad attempted to close the gap with mid-1990s efforts to buy 40 Mirage-2000Cs, but that deal was scuppered by corruption allegations during the second tenure of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the fall of that government.

 

In dire straits, Pakistan turned to close ally China. Initially, China could only provide low-tech solutions like the F-7P, already selected to complement the high-tech F-16s. Modernizing Mirage-III aircraft with Italian Grifo-M radars eased the strain somewhat, but there was still the question of a BVRAAM weapon.

 

But together, China and Pakistan have now developed their own BVRAAM-equipped fighter and AEW aircraft: the Sino-Pakistani JF-17 Thunder multirole combat aircraft and the KJ-200/ZDK-03 AEW&C system.

 

PROTECTION FROM FUTURE SANCTIONS

 

Both programs have allowed Pakistan to boost its own aviation and defense electronics industries, with the eventual aim of being able to provide an indigenous, "sanction-proof" alternative to foreign suppliers.

 

The JF-17 will enter frontline operational service by the end of 2009, armed with the Chinese SD-10/PL-12 BVRAAM.

 

Officials have hinted about buying other weapons for later batches of the JF-17, such as the MBDA Mica. Wing Commander Asim Malik, a flight test engineer on the JF-17 program, would not speak directly on the subject. But "the mission computer can cope with any potential weapon integration," he said.

 

Malik said this was linked to its considerable export potential, "as the JF-17 is the only medium-tech aircraft in this price bracket, so there is a queue of vendors wanting to supply systems for the aircraft."

 

December also saw Pakistan sign a $278 million deal for four Chinese KJ-2000/ZDK03 AEW&C aircraft, whose active electronically steered array radar is mounted on a turboprop-powered Y-8F600. It is somewhat similar to the Saab-2000-mounted Ericsson FRS-890 Erieye system on order from Sweden.

 

The ZDK-03 purchase, as with the joint JF-17 program, has an element of technology transfer, said defense analyst Usman Shabbir of the Pakistan Military Consortium.

 

"The Pakistan Air Force sees this procurement of ZDK03 AEW&C as a long-term investment, enabling it to tap into the emerging Chinese capabilities in this field," Shabbir said. "A team of PAF engineers is already working with the Chinese into refining the performance of this system, and China is also helping to set up labs for advance avionics R&D within Pakistan."

 

When the United States lifted sanctions in 2002, Pakistan once more sought American help to modernize its air arm but has continued to draw closer to China. In 2006, Islamabad and Washington concluded a $5.1 billion deal for 18 new-build F-16C/D Block-52+ aircraft, upgrades for 28 F-16A/B Block-15s, midlife upgrade kits, and 500 AIM-120C5 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles. The Pakistan Navy also is set to acquire an AEW&C system based on the P-3B Orion airframe.

 

Lockheed Martin spokesman Costas Papadopoulos said last November that work was set to begin on some aircraft.

 

Though the American avenue for high-tech systems has been restored, Islamabad has not turned away from the alternative modernization program started with the help of China in the 1990s. Its aim was to acquire indigenous production capabilities in these areas and protect Pakistan from future sanctions.

 

The expected order for 40 Chengdu J-10/FC-20 fighters from China later this year, to complement Pakistan's F-16s, will further ensure Pakistan is less reliant on Western technology. Islamabad's efforts to avoid a repeat of the sanctions that almost crippled its air arm for nearly two decades are almost complete.

 

E-mail: uansari@defensenews.com