Article

2010-05-20 China-Japan-Koreas

China converts 737s into surveillance aircraft before US effort to do so.

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Posted by 3dc 2010-05-20 00:00|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 WAFF > RUSSIA, US MULL JOINT PRODUCTION OF AN-124 TRANSPORT PLANES.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2010-05-20 01:32|| 2010-05-20 01:32|| Front Page Top

#2 Huh? I suppose it depends on what you mean by "surveillance". But I don't understand why "737" means all that much. The US has had surveillance aircraft using the larger E-8 (707) airframe for decades. The replacement is to be the E-10 ... the 767 airframe.

The 737 is basically an obsolete platform.

Posted by crosspatch 2010-05-20 03:38|| 2010-05-20 03:38|| Front Page Top

#3 What a ridiculous distortion. "Surveillance" is a very broad category and not all such systems are equivalent. The Chinese aircraft appears to be a local conversion of a standard 737 airliner, with Elint gear and possibly optical systems.
The P-8 Poseidon is essentially a new aircraft derived from, but hardly identical to, the late model 737. Among other things, the P-8 has comprehensive ASW equipment and is quite heavily armed.
Various surveillance and sensor packages have been offered for all the Boeing airliners for many years. The 737 Surveiller, for example, was produced in 1982 with Motorola AN/APS-135(V) Side Looking Airborne Modular Multi-Mission Radar (SLAMMR) and is operated by the Indonesian Air Force.

Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2010-05-20 11:56|| 2010-05-20 11:56|| Front Page Top

#4 I'm glad Xe (formerly Blackwater) Security didn't buy a third hand 737-200 and cut camera ports in the cargo hold (assuming they haven't).
In that case, the headline would probably be "Evil mercenaries get 737 spyplane three years ahead of US Navy."

Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2010-05-20 12:11|| 2010-05-20 12:11|| Front Page Top

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