Chinese AWACS crash
Hong Kong newspapers linked to the Beijing government on Monday reported that the military plane crash in central Anhui Province on Sunday was an AWACS.
Ta Kung Pao said that besides 5 aircrew, the rest on board were electronic experts. Wen Wei Po carried a picture of the plane's wreckage.
While both papers did not identify the exact model of aircraft, they did describe it as an AWACS. Ta Kung Pao also ran an accompanying article discussing the KJ-2000.
While Chinese forums have speculated that the aircraft might be a Y-8 AEW variant based on photos and eye witness reports, it is unlikely that the Y-8 can fit 40 people inside.
Robert Karniol, Asia-Pacific editor for Jane's Defense Weekly, said the appointment of Gen. Guo Boxiong, the vice chairman of the Communist Party commission overseeing the military, to investigate suggest that it is not an ordinary military crash.
Allen Behm, an expert on the Chinese military, suggest that the plane carried so many technicians as China wanted to conduct the tests without transmitting the data to the ground. This is to avoid interception by American intelligence.
Source
軍機墜安徽 胡總悼40烈士 - Wen Wei Po
預警機故障避民居撞山 - Ta Kung Pao
Reports: Crashed Chinese Craft a Spy Plane - Houston Chronicle
Crash of Chinese Surveillance Plane Hurts Effort on Warning System - New York Times
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