Navy gets anti-sub boost

Beihai Fleet's patrol aircraft give PLA up-to-date capability

China has developed and commissioned a fixed-wing, anti-submarine patrol aircraft, which will significantly boost the Chinese navy's operational capability, experts said.

The four-engine Gaoxin-6, which was developed and manufactured by Aviation Industry Corp of China based on the Y-8 transport plane, has been delivered to the Beihai - or North Sea - Fleet of the People's Liberation Army navy, about three years after the type was first revealed in late 2011, according to a recent report in IHS Jane's Defense Weekly, a United Kingdom-based weapon technology publication.