PLAAF Y-9LG (High New 13) spotted in Thailand during exercise Falcon Strike. Note the the large rectangular panel on the rear airframe which is likely an ELINT or EW sensor or payload. Picture by Micah Young.

中国空军Y-9LG（高新 13）在泰国猎鹰打击演习中被发现。请注意后机身上的大矩形面板，它可能是电子情报（ELINT）或电子战（EW）传感器或有效载荷。图片由Micah Young提供。

 

China has deployed an Electronic Warfare/Electronic Intelligence (EW/ELINT) aircraft for an overseas exercise for the first time, with the deployment of one of its newest dedicated special mission aircraft to Thailand for a bilateral air exercise.

中国首次为海外演习部署了一架电子战/电子情报（EW/ELINT）飞机，并将其最新的专用特种任务飞机之一部署到泰国进行双边空中演习。

 

Naval News Staff  01 Sep 2024

Story by Micah Young

海军新闻工作人员 2024年9月1日

作者：Micah Young

 

The aircraft, which has been designated the Y-9LG or High New 13, was one of 13 aircraft from all three branches of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) which took part in Exercise Falcon Strike at the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) base at Udon Thani in northern Thailand, which ran from 18 to 29 August.

这架飞机被命名为Y-9LG或高新 13，是中国人民解放军所有三个分支的13架飞机之一，参加了2024年8月18日至29日在泰国北部乌隆他尼的泰国皇家空军基地举行的猎鹰打击演习。

 

The Y-9LG was only known to have entered service with China’s PLA Air Force (PLAAF) in 2022, after having been in development since at least 2017. The aircraft at Falcon Strike was in low-visibility markings and carried the serial 30211, indicating it was from the PLAAF’s 20th Special Division.

Y-9LG至少从2017年开始研发，直到2022年才进入中国人民解放军空军服役。猎鹰打击演习上的飞机有低能见度标记，并涂装序列号30211，表明它来自中国人民解放军空军第20特种师。

 

The new subtype is based on the Shaanxi Y-9 turboprop airlifter and can be identified by a prominent “balance beam” antenna similar to Saab’s Erieye airborne radar and that fitted to China’s KJ-200 Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft, along with several different fairings fitted for its specialised mission.

新的子型号基于陕西Y-9涡轮螺旋桨运输机，可以通过一个类似于萨博“爱立眼”（Erieye）机载雷达的突出的“平衡波束”天线进行识别，该天线安装在中国KJ-200机载预警（AEW）飞机上，以及为其专门任务安装的几个不同的整流罩。

 

The latter include a Satellite Communications (SATCOM) dome on top of its forward fuselage, side looking SIGINT antennas on its rear fuselage and Electronic Support Measures (ESM) antennas on its wingtips and at the top of the vertical tail.

后者包括其前机身顶部的卫星通信（SATCOM）圆顶、后机身上的侧视信号情报天线以及翼尖和垂直尾翼顶部的电子支援措施（ESM）天线。

 

Also present at the exercise were a pair of Shenyang J-11 interceptors. These were made up of a single seat J-11B and a J-11BS twin-seater, both of which carried PLA Navy Air Force (PLANAF) markings although their exact unit assignment was unclear.

参加演习的还有两架沈阳歼-11截击机。这些飞机由一架单座歼-11B和一架双座歼-11BS组成，两者都带有中国人民解放军海军航空队（PLANAF）的标记，尽管其确切的单位分配尚不清楚。

 

Two other Chinese participants with a naval affiliation were a pair of Xi’an JH-7 fighter bombers. Both carried numbers indicating they were from the PLANAF’s 9th Naval Aviation Brigade, although interestingly one of the aircraft carried its serial number in yellow in accordance with PLAAF practice, while the other aircraft wore larger red serial numbers in line with the PLANAF system.

另外两位与海军有关联的中国参与者是两架西安JH-7战斗轰炸机。这两架飞机都带有编号，表明它们来自海军航空兵第9海军航空旅，尽管有趣的是，其中一架飞机按照海军航空兵的惯例，其序列号为黄色，而另一架飞机则根据海军航空兵系统，使用了更大的红色序列号。

 

This suggests that 9th Naval Air Brigade is one of the PLANAF land-based air combat units that has been transferred to the PLAAF, a process that is known to have been ongoing since 2022.

这表明，第9海军航空旅是海军陆战队陆上空战部队之一，已被移交给中国人民解放军空军，众所周知，这一过程自2022年以来一直在进行。

 

Other aircraft involved in the exercise include six PLAAF J-10 fighter jets, a Shaanxi KJ-500 AEW aircraft and a PLA Mil Mi-171 transport helicopter, while the RTAF was represented by its Saab JAS-39 Gripen multirole fighters, a Saab 340 AEW aircraft and Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet light combat aircraft. This is the seventh iteration of Exercise Falcon Strike since the inaugural event in 2015. Despite being a treaty ally of the US, Thailand has bolstered its defence relations with China in recent years, with its military having bought Chinese tanks, amphibious ships and an on again, off-again effort to acquire submarines from China.

参加演习的其他飞机包括六架解放军空军歼-10战斗机、一架陕西KJ-500 AEW飞机和一架解放军军用米-171运输直升机，而皇家空军则以萨博JAS-39鹰狮多用途战斗机、萨博340 AEW飞机以及达索/多尼尔阿尔法喷气轻型战斗机为代表。这是自2015年首次举办猎鹰打击演习以来的第七次延续。尽管泰国是美国的条约盟友，但近年来泰国加强了与中国的防务关系，泰国军方购买了中国坦克、两栖舰艇，并断断续续地从中国采购潜艇。

 

About Y-9LG aircraft

关于Y-9LG飞机

 

Regular Naval News contributor Alex Luck shared the following comment on the new aircraft:

《海军新闻》特约撰稿人Alex Luck对新飞机发表了以下评论：

 

There is significant speculation in the PLA watching community as to the precise role of the Y-9LG/High New 13. The current prevalent suggestion is a role focused on electronic warfare, notably a role as jammer platform including such use of the “balance beam” style AESA. Factual data to confirm a particular role remains absent. As usual PLA does not comment on roles and capabilities especially of their newest systems in service. Consequently, assessments are limited to observable characteristics, unit affiliation and the character of deployments. Personally, I suspect this new configuration is an enhanced AEWC system, which additionally incorporates significant EW capability. Such a design seems in line with the overall trend of AESA development not just accommodating detection and tracking of relevant targets cueing effectors, but additionally suppressing them through means of electronic warfare. The latter is an inherent strength of modern AESA type radars and as such utilised also by foreign air forces elsewhere. Increased flexibility engaging in electronic warfare is a primary demand on new developments globally. Additionally, such an enhanced AEWC system would be in line also with PLA-developments including the earlier KJ-500 (High New 10), also present in Thailand. KJ-500 already incorporated ELINT capability seen in other designs such as the Y-8JZ (High New 8). Some aspects of the new Y-9LG configuration, especially the large rectangular panels on the rear airframe, were first observable on the Y-9Z aka High New 12. The development dynamic on display therefore appears to mirror the earlier efforts in AEWC and overall ELINT/EW-development.

中国人民解放军观众对Y-9LG/高新 13的确切作用有很多猜测。目前流行的建议是专注于电子战的角色，特别是作为干扰平台的角色，包括使用“平衡波束”式AESA。确认特定角色的事实数据仍然缺失。与往常一样，中国人民解放军不会对角色和能力发表评论，尤其是他们服役中的最新系统。因此，评估仅限于可观察的特征、部队隶属关系和部署特征。就我个人而言，我怀疑这种新配置是一种增强的AEWC系统，它还包含了重要的电子战能力。这种设计似乎符合AESA发展的总体趋势，不仅可以检测和跟踪相关目标，还可以通过电子战手段抑制它们。后者是现代AESA型雷达的固有优势，因此也被其他地方的外国空军所使用。提高参与电子战的灵活性是全球新发展的主要要求。此外，这种增强的AEWC系统也将与解放军的发展相一致，包括早期的KJ-500（高新 10），也在泰国。KJ-500已经结合了Y-8JZ（高新 8）等其他设计中的ELINT能力。新的Y-9LG配置的某些方面，特别是后机身上的大型矩形面板，首次在Y-9Z（又名高新 12）上被观察到。因此，所展示的发展动态似乎反映了AEWC和整个ELINT/EW发展的早期努力。