A Japan Air-Self Defense Force Boeing E-767 Airborne Warning and Control System is able to monitor the skies above the East China Sea. (Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images)
Summary
As China and Japan continue to patrol and monitor their declared air defense identification zones in the East China Sea, both countries are trying to enhance their situational awareness in the disputed region by bolstering their airborne early warning and control capabilities. Although Japan has historically had more advanced airborne early warning and control systems, China is quickly catching up. In theory, improved capabilities would benefit both countries as they compete with one another other for primacy in these contested waters.
Analysis
Airborne early warning and control systems are critical tools for monitoring expansive airspace. Compared to ground-based and naval radars, early warning and control aircraft can much more rapidly deploy to a contested zone and can generally track and identify sea-skimming aircraft and missiles from a longer range.
They will be particularly useful to monitor the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, which are located approximately 400 kilometers (almost 250 miles) from the Chinese mainland and from Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa. Flying at high altitude, airborne early warning and control systems are well suited to closely monitor air and vessel activity over and around the islands. Not only can they provide a more accurate picture of the area, but they can also control friendly aircraft in the vicinity using specially equipped computers, radar systems and communication devices.
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The Japanese first recognized the need for an airborne early warning capability in 1976, when a defecting Soviet pilot repeatedly eluded Japanese ground-based radar systems by flying his MiG-25 at very low altitudes. Afterward, the Japanese Air-Self Defense Force purchased thirteen E-2C Hawkeye tactical airborne early warning aircraft, which they stationed at Misawa Air Base in the north to monitor Soviet and later Russian flights. The E-2Cs were put into service in 1987, and more than a decade later Tokyo added four larger and more powerful Boeing E-767 aircraft to its fleet.
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In China, the People's Liberation Army Air Force and the People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force are still in the early stages of developing a comprehensive airborne early warning capability. Unlike the Japanese, the Chinese do not have the institutional experience that comes with decades of intensive operations. However, over the past decade the Chinese have made a dedicated effort to develop their own airborne early warning and control systems capability. Beijing deployed its first airborne early warning regiment in 2004, based on the KJ-2000 aircraft. The Chinese later introduced the KJ-200, an aircraft equipped with balance beam radar, and are now actively working on the smaller KJ-500 prototype, which is equipped with the more comprehensive rotodome radar.
Without having built up these airborne early warning and control capabilities, the Chinese would have been in a far more tenuous position to try to adequately monitor their newly declared air defense identification zone. The Chinese already own more aircraft than the Japanese, although China continues to lag behind Japan in terms of quality (relative to Tokyo's E-767 aircraft, for example) and experience. The Chinese may hope to acquire valuable experience by monitoring their new East China Sea air defense identification zone.
Better Positions
The Japanese know that the Chinese are rapidly catching up and are already moving to improve their own airborne early warning and control capability. Japan's E-2C aircraft are old and overused. Missions flown over the Senkaku Islands are especially taxing on the Japanese, given how far the disputed islands are from Misawa Air Base. To alleviate the problem, the Japanese have decided to enhance their infrastructure at Naha Air Base in Okinawa so that it will eventually be able to support a permanent detachment of E-2C aircraft. This would greatly reduce the flight time required to deploy to the region and would provide more time for Japanese aircraft to loiter over the zone.
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The Japanese Defense Ministry also plans to introduce a successor aircraft to the E-2C in its National Defense Program Guidelines for 2015, which the government will compile this month. The E-737, which is capable of airborne refueling, is a strong contender to replace the E-2C. If the Japanese follow through on these plans, they will be strongly positioned to maintain significant coverage over the disputed air defense identification zones with China.
Given the vast distances involved and the inherent advantages of airborne early warning and control aircraft, China and Japan are prioritizing the development and fielding of airborne radar systems. These aircraft are veritable force multipliers that could enable both sides to better manage interceptions of planes thought to be encroaching on the disputed territory and, thus, better position themselves in their regional conflict.
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