Stories Behind the AG600—The World’s Largest Amphibious Plane

By Jiang Hui & Mei Chunyan

Getting revved up, taxiing along the ground,and then nosing upward, a blue and white plane finally soars up high into the sky.

At 9:39 am on December 24, 2017, China’s new amphibious plane, the AG600, code named Kunlong,made its maiden flight successfully out of the Jinwan Airport in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province.

The amphibious AG600, the long-range transport plane Y-20, and the large passenger jet C919,are often called “the Three Musketeers” of the Chinese-made big plane family. The maiden flight of the AG600 signifies the meeting of “the Three Musketeers” in the sky.

The AG600 is the world’s largest amphibious plane and was completely designed in China, which has filled in the technological blank in the production of big amphibious planes in China. The plane has over 50,000 structural and systematic components,98% of which are provided by Chinese suppliers,and 95% of the finished products onboard are Chinese-made with performance on a par with any international companies.

啟動、滑行、機頭昂起……一架藍白相間的飛機直沖云霄。2017年12月24日9時39分，中國大型水陸兩棲飛機“鯤龍”AG600在廣東珠海金灣機場成功首飛。

水陸兩棲飛機 ，和大型運輸機運-20、大型客機C919一起，被稱作國產大飛機家族“三劍客”。這次首飛，標志著“三劍客”終在藍天聚首。

AG600飛機是全球在研的最大一款水陸兩棲飛機，填補中國大型水陸兩棲飛機空白，具有完全自主知識產權，全機5萬多個結構及系統零部件，其中的98%由中國供應商提供，機載成品95%以上為國產，性能比肩國際先進水平。

2009年6月，AG600飛機正式立項。位于荊門的央企航空工業特種飛行器研究所/通飛研究院（以下簡稱“院所”），擔任AG600飛機總設計師單位。中國20個省市、150多家單位、十余所高校數以萬計的科研人員參與研制。航空工業通飛華南公司主承制。

院所黨委書記熊賢鵬介紹，設計師團隊總人數50余人，近九成 是“80后”。2012年， 科 研人員攻克關鍵技術，完成初步設計；2014年完成詳細設計，確保AG600飛機如期下線和首飛。

這是一艘能飛起來的船，也是一架能游泳的飛機。從外形看，上半部是飛機，下半部是輪船。除了能像普通飛機在陸上起降外，在任何江海湖泊，只要給它一片長1500米、寬200米、深2.5米的水域，它“說走就走”。它是森林滅火能手，最大載水量12噸。它還是遠海救護高手，一次可救護50名遇險人員，最大救援半徑達1600公里，可以覆蓋中國大部分海域及專屬經濟區，特別是海難多發的內海主航道。

院所長張明文介紹，荊門漳河水庫試驗試飛基地擁有兩條陸上跑道和一條水上跑道，預計2018年AG600飛機將在此進行水上首飛。

世界上，僅俄羅斯、日本、加拿大等少數國家能夠研制和裝備大型水陸兩棲飛機。而今，中國也成為其中一員。

The AG600 project was officially launched in June of 2009. It was designed by the Special/Generalpurpose Vehicle Research Institute of Aviation Industry Corporation of China, a state-owned enterprise located in Jingmen, Hubei Province,(hereinafter referred to as “the Institute”), and manufactured by the Zhuhai-based Huanan Company of China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Corporation. The project involved tens of thousands of researchers from more than 150 institutions and over ten universities in 20 provinces and cities in China.

According to Mr. Xiong Xianpeng,Secretary of the Party Committee of the Institute, the team of the designers for the AG600 consisted of over 50 researchers, who were mostly born in the 1980s. In 2012,the key technologies were conquered and the preliminary design was completed; and in 2014, the detailed design was accomplished, which ensured the AG600’s timely delivery and maiden flight.

The AG600 is both a “ship”that can fly and a “plane” that can swim. Judging from its appearance,the upper part looks like a plane,while the lower part is like a ship.Besides taking off and landing on the ground like an ordinary plane,on any river or sea with waters at least 1,500 meters long, 200 meters wide and 2.5 meters deep, it can take off immediately upon request.With a maximum water carrying capacity of 12 tons, it will be superb in forest fire fighting. In addition, it will also be a superior tool for opensea rescues. It can rescue more than 50 people in danger at one time,with the maximum radius of rescue of 1,600 kilometers, which covers most of China’s waters and exclusive economic zones, and especially the main channel of the continental sea where marine perils frequently occur.

According to Mr. Zhang Mingwen,Director of the Institute, it’s predicted that the AG600 will have its first overwater flight in 2018 at the Base for Experimental and Test Flights at the Zhanghe River Reservoir in Jingmen, as there are two ground runways and one water runway at the Base.

So far, only a few countries in the world have developed large amphibious planes, including Russia, Japan, and Canada. Now,China is proudly situated at the top of that list. (Translation: Liu Jie)