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(dòng)、滑行、機(jī)頭昂起……一架藍(lán)白相間的飛機(jī)直沖云霄。2017年12月24日9時(shí)39分，中國(guó)大型水陸兩棲飛機(jī)“鯤龍”AG600在廣東珠海金灣機(jī)場(chǎng)成功首飛。

水陸兩棲飛機(jī) ，和大型運(yùn)輸機(jī)運(yùn)-20、大型客機(jī)C919一起，被稱(chēng)作國(guó)產(chǎn)大飛機(jī)家族“三劍客”。這次首飛，標(biāo)志著“三劍客”終在藍(lán)天聚首。

AG600飛機(jī)是全球在研的最大一款水陸兩棲飛機(jī)，填補(bǔ)中國(guó)大型水陸兩棲飛機(jī)空白，具有完全自主知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)，全機(jī)5萬(wàn)多個(gè)結(jié)構(gòu)及系統(tǒng)零部件，其中的98%由中國(guó)供應(yīng)商提供，機(jī)載成品95%以上為國(guó)產(chǎn)，性能比肩國(guó)際先進(jìn)水平。

2009年6月，AG600飛機(jī)正式立項(xiàng)。位于荊門(mén)的央企航空工業(yè)特種飛行器研究所/通飛研究院（以下簡(jiǎn)稱(chēng)“院所”），擔(dān)任AG600飛機(jī)總設(shè)計(jì)師單位。中國(guó)20個(gè)省市、150多家單位、十余所高校數(shù)以萬(wàn)計(jì)的科研人員參與研制。航空工業(yè)通飛華南公司主承制。

院所黨委書(shū)記熊賢鵬介紹，設(shè)計(jì)師團(tuán)隊(duì)總?cè)藬?shù)50余人，近九成 是“80后”。2012年， 科 研人員攻克關(guān)鍵技術(shù)，完成初步設(shè)計(jì)；2014年完成詳細(xì)設(shè)計(jì)，確保AG600飛機(jī)如期下線和首飛。

這是一艘能飛起來(lái)的船，也是一架能游泳的飛機(jī)。從外形看，上半部是飛機(jī)，下半部是輪船。除了能像普通飛機(jī)在陸上起降外，在任何江海湖泊，只要給它一片長(zhǎng)1500米、寬200米、深2.5米的水域，它“說(shuō)走就走”。它是森林滅火能手，最大載水量12噸。它還是遠(yuǎn)海救護(hù)高手，一次可救護(hù)50名遇險(xiǎn)人員，最大救援半徑達(dá)1600公里，可以覆蓋中國(guó)大部分海域及專(zhuān)屬經(jīng)濟(jì)區(qū)，特別是海難多發(fā)的內(nèi)海主航道。

院所長(zhǎng)張明文介紹，荊門(mén)漳河水庫(kù)試驗(yàn)試飛基地?fù)碛袃蓷l陸上跑道和一條水上跑道，預(yù)計(jì)2018年AG600飛機(jī)將在此進(jìn)行水上首飛。

世界上，僅俄羅斯、日本、加拿大等少數(shù)國(guó)家能夠研制和裝備大型水陸兩棲飛機(jī)。而今，中國(guó)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)