One week an international tribunal declares that China has no basis for its claims in the South China Sea. The next week Avic unveils an amphibious aircraft that it and state media hail as a tool for operating in the asserted maritime territory.
Coincidence? Maybe. The AG600 amphibian was already due to appear some time this year. But the timing was certainly convenient to the government and Avic, providing outstanding propaganda to feed to a public eager for signs of action on the claim.
The South China Sea appears repeatedly in reports of the July 22 unveiling. The aircraft can reach the country’s most distant territory in that body of water, says the People’s Daily, a leading government mouthpiece. It will be able to cope with 75-80% of water conditions there, chief designer Huang Lingcai tells the Global Times, a nationalist newspaper. And one reason for developing the type was the length of China’s coastline, notably including the distant coasts of the South China Sea’s islands and reefs, says thePeople’s Liberation Army Daily, the armed forces’ publication.
Avic subsidiary Caiga presented the AG600 at its Zhuhai works. Credit: Yue Shuhua

Rescuing people at sea has long been mentioned as a role for the AG600. But the military newspaper adds that it will also be able to carry supplies to islands and reefs, presumably not those on which China has built runways. Other maritime missions include environmental monitoring, resources exploration, anti-smuggling and, notably, the protection of rights, which must mean sovereign rights.
The AG600’s key role over land is water bombing, for which it is designed to scoop up 12 metric tons (26,000 lb.) of water in 20 sec., according to Avic. Its speed will allow it to outperform rotorcraft in the role, and its water capacity will exceed even that of the giantMil Mi-26 helicopter, which China uses for fighting forest fires.
Although China Central Television interviewed a defense expert who said the AG600 could be used in an anti-submarine role, the type is not intrinsically a military aircraft. If it had been, its development would have been kept largely secret, whereas Avic has openly discussed details of the program since its launch in 2009. Moreover, China already has a newly deployed anti-submarine aircraft, a maritime version of the Y-9 transport. The same expert, Yin Zhuo, director of the navy’s Expert Consultation Committee, has said the Y-9 version is comparable to the Lockheed Martin P-3C Orion. 

Zhuhai-based Caiga, an Avic division that specializes in general aviation aircraft, is handling the AG600 program with help from large-airplane specialist Avic Aircraft of Xian. Development is running late. At the time of program launch, the first flight was due in 2013 and entry into service in 2015. By last year, the first flight was due in the first half of 2016, a target that has now been missed. Avic has given no update.
One evident reason for the earlier delays was Avic’s decision to greatly improve the design from what was originally an updated Harbin SH-5, an flying boat built in small numbers in the 1970s and ’80s. Underscoring the advances, Huang says the program is using new materials and manufacturing methods plus new design calculations and techniques.
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This story is a selection from the August 1, 2016 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology. New content posted daily online.
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The structure and system parts are 98% made in China, he says, as is 90% of the complete aircraft. The reason for the discrepancy is unclear. The type uses the WJ-6 engine, which in one version can generate 3,800 kW (5,100 hp). The engine, made in China, is a Chinese version of the Ivchenko AI-20 of the 1950s. A new Chinese engine, the 3,782-kW (5,142-hp) WJ-16, would surely have been preferred, had it been ready.
Since the aircraft is overdue for flight, the July 22 unveiling of the AG600 does not seem premature. That does not mean it was ready to fly, however. Sometimes rolled-out aircraft just look that way.
In any case, such a propaganda opportunity must have been planned at a high level, especially considering its relevance to the South China Sea claim, which was rejected by an international tribunal in the Hague on July 12.
Even without direction from above, Avic will have seen the benefit of associating its impressive new product with the contentious nine-dash line in the South China Sea that appears on all Chinese maps of that part of the world. Pleasing the public means pleasing Avic’s political masters.