Activities of Chinese Spyplanes in the Western Pacific

Mike Yeo and Martin Streetly 

December 10, 2014 

Chinese special mission aircraft cross Okinawa into West Pacific 

A PLA Navy Y-8J flew through the Okinawa island chain on 6 December. Source: Japan Air Self-Defense Force 

China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is conducting an air-and-sea exercise into Pacific waters during the early part of December, with ships and aircraft transiting through international waters south of Japan’s Okinawa. 

A Chinese GX-8 SIGINT aircraft photographed over the East China Sea by Japanese aircraft on 6 December 2014. (Japan Air Self-Defense Force) 

Japan’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement that on 4 December Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) ships and Lockheed P-3C Orions had escorted a PLAN flotilla of five ships through the Miyako Strait. 

The PLAN flotilla comprised Type 052 Luhu-class destroyer Harbin (112), Type 051C Luzhou-class destroyer Shijiazhuang (116) and the Type 054A Jiangkai II-class frigates Yantai (538) and Yancheng (546). These were supported by the Type 903 Fuchi-class replenishment ship Taihu (889). All ships are assigned to the PLAN’s North Sea Fleet based at Qingdao. 

The air component of the exercise started on 6 December, with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) intercepting a variety of PLAN aircraft headed out into the Pacific, also via international airspace over the Miyako Strait, on two consecutive days. 

On both occasions, these included a pair of Shaanxi Y-8J maritime airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft, a Shaanxi GX-8 electronic intelligence (ELINT) gathering platform, and a pair of Xian H-6G bombers. The Y-8J and GX-8 carried codes indicating they were assigned to the PLAN’s Laiyang-based 2nd Division, while the H-6s carried serial numbers indicating it belonged to the PLAN’s 17th Air Regiment, East Sea Fleet, based at Jiangsu-Benniu, west of Shanghai. 

The Y-8Js photographed by the JASDF sported a semi-spherical dome, likely for SATCOM, on its top fuselage. This is the first time this variant has been seen with this dome, although it is fitted onto several variants of China’s special mission Y-8/Y-9s. 

COMMENT 

The presence of the GX-8 in international airspace near Japan for the second time in two months is of particular interest. 

The JASDF first photographed the type over the East China Sea on 3 October, with analysis of its external appearance suggesting that aside from being based on the newer Y-9 transport aircraft airframe, the platform is equipped with a distinctly different mission suite to those that have been installed aboard China’s earlier Y-8 based SIGINT platforms. 

Again, the type’s lateral antenna arrays appear to be similar to those carried by a new Y-9 based AEW aircraft that has been variously identified as the KJ-500 and/or the Y-8/GX-10. 

For its part, the Y-8J is equipped with the Thales UK X-band (10 MHz centre frequency) Skymaster multi-mode radar. Reported to have been first flown on 26 September 1998, the Y-8J is externally characterised by a bulbous nose radome that replaces the baseline aircraft’s glazed navigator’s station. 

A PLA Navy Y-8J, equipped with the X-band Thales UK Skymaster multi-mode maritime surveillance and advanced early warning (AEW) radar, flew through the Okinawa island chain on 6 December . (Japan Air Self-Defense Force) 

A PLA Navy H-6G with the serial number 81213 flew through the Okinawa island chain on 6 December. (Japan Air Self-Defense Force) 

A Chinese GX-8 SIGINT aircraft photographed over the East China Sea by Japanese aircraft on 7 December. (Japan Air Self-Defense Force) 

A PLA Navy H-6G with the serial number 81214 flew through the Okinawa island chain on 7 December. (Japan Air Self-Defense Force)