The China Flight Test Establishment (CFTE) has been operating airborne radar testbed based on the Shaanxi Y-8C and Antonov An-24 turboprop transports. These aircraft served as flying platforms for testing various fire-control radar and avionics to be used on new-generation fighters and attack aircraft. Instead of using the highly valuable fighter prototype for radar and avionics testing, the avionics is being tested on the flying testbed, which can be conducted in parallel with the fighter’s flight test programme. The same approach has also been used in the development of the U.S. F-22 Raptor fighter, where its avionics were tested on a modified Boeing 757 jet while the fighter was still under development.
A modified Shaanxi Y-8C (An-12 Cub copy) four-engine turboprop transport was commissioned for the flying testbed role in August 1999. Carrying the CFTE serial number ‘079’, the aircraft is officially known as Y-8CA Radar Electronic Testbed Aircraft. Like the An-24 testbed, the Y-8C flying testbed had its glass-in nose removed and replaced by a radome to house the radar antenna and other electronic equipment. The radome is replaceable and mimics the shape of the nose section of the fighter on which the radar system being tested will be integrated.
It is not clear whether the ‘079’ testbed is equipped with a simulated fighter cockpit like the Boeing 757 testbed used in the F-22 radar development, but the Y-8CA testbed is believed to be carrying various sensors and test equipment, as well as a dedicated cabin serving as a flying laboratory for the test engineers.
Y-8CA '079' with a round-shape radome (Chinese Internet)
Y-8CA ''079 with its original round-shape radome replaced by a newer radome that mimics the shape of J-11 fighter's nose (Chinese Internet)
The new radar test module, believed to be associated to the J-11 fighter development programme, has a much sharper shape mimicking the nose of the fighter (Chinese Internet)
