China's government has granted approval for Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) to build a large amphibious aircraft for fire-fighting and rescue missions.
This is a programme the Chinese have been looking at for the last couple of years but according to the AVIC General Aircraft official I spoke to today last year's Sichuan earthquake was the impetus for the Chinese ministry of industry and information to give the go ahead finally.
The aircraft, which has been tentatively named the Dragon 600, will be a four-engine propeller aircraft.
When I met with AVIC officials in September 2007, they told me it would have a take-off weight of 60t and that the catalyst for the move was the August 2007 forest fires in Greece.
The officials back then said the plan was to deploy the aircraft overseas on fire-fighting and rescue missions.
If China succeeds in putting this aircraft into service overseas it will do a lot of boost China's image and develop goodwill overseas.
People overseas still associate China with the People's Liberation Army but if this aircraft is used to rescue people facing forest fires and other natural disasters it could change that perception of China as a threat.
It reminds me of the way, China has worked to win over other adversaries with the use of Panda Power, the Sichuanese pandas that China gives to overseas zoos as a way of encouraging people to take an interest in China.
on June 30, 2009 10:41 AM | Reply
Now what do dragons know about putting out fire, eh? I am led to believe that these mystical creatures spit out fireballs. :-P
It would be significantly more effective to procure several Evergreen International's Supertanker that hold 20,000 gallons of fire retardant.
Take a old 747-400 (btw there are loads of them stuffed up in the desert that you can have a field day picking them), and convert it with Evergreen Airlines FAA-approved STC. It has 8-10 times the capacity of conventional firefighting aircraft.
Check out link below for the pictures.
http://www.gizmag.com/evergreen-supertanker-the-worlds-largest-firefighting-aircraft/9565/picture/46741/