China's amphibious AG600 aircraft greenlighted for mass production

BEIJING -- China's domestically developed AG600 "Kunlong" amphibious aircraft has officially entered mass production after receiving production certification from the Civil Aviation Administration of China on Wednesday.

The production certificate confirms the applicant's quality system meets airworthiness regulations and ensures consistent production that adheres to design standards, said an expert from the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the aircraft developer and the country's leading aircraft manufacturer.

Slightly larger than mainstream single-aisle airliners, the AG600 measures 38.9 meters in length, 11.7 meters in height and 38.8 meters in wingspan, according to AVIC data.

The aircraft's maximum takeoff weight is 60 tonnes, with a maximum practical range of 4,500 kilometers. Notably, it can carry up to 12 tonnes of water for fire-fighting missions.

"The AG600 is a plane that can swim and a ship that can fly," Huang Lingcai, chief designer of the AG600 series, told Xinhua in a previous interview.

The aircraft features a unique configuration consisting of an integrated aircraft-shaped upper body and a ship-bottom-shaped lower body. On each side of its huge wing, there is a float over 4 meters long to prevent the aircraft from overturning when it taxis on the water surface to ensure safety.

The AG600's development involved hundreds of supporting units and tens of thousands of components, showcasing China's comprehensive capabilities in collaborative design and manufacturing, supply chain management and process consistency control for large special-purpose aircraft.

This progress has laid down replicable management experience and technical standards for future domestic large special-purpose aircraft projects.

An AVIC expert highlighted that the AG600's successful development has forged China's core technology system for large amphibious aircraft, pioneering a "small core, large collaboration" development model. It has also established a complete framework covering design, production, system integration, flight testing and support services.

This milestone equips China with the technological and industrial capacity to independently develop large amphibious aircraft, marking a historic breakthrough in the country's civil aviation sector for large special-purpose aircraft.

AVIC experts stated that future efforts will prioritize China's emergency rescue and natural disaster prevention needs, advancing the AG600's serialized development, enhancing the aviation emergency rescue service network, and building a comprehensive rescue equipment system with the AG600 at its core.

Since its development was initiated in 2009, the AG600's development process has seen it successfully complete its maiden flight in 2017, the first take-off from a reservoir in 2018, and a maiden flight over the sea in 2020. In 2023, AG600 was capable of carrying out fire-fighting tasks.