BEIJING (AFP) – China’s domestically developed AG600, the world’s largest amphibious aircraft, performed its maiden flight on Sunday from an airport on the shores of the South China Sea, the latest step in a military modernization program.
China has stepped up research on advanced military equipment as it adopts a more muscular approach to territorial disputes in places such as the disputed South China Sea, rattling nerves in the Asia-Pacific region and the United States.
State television showed live images of the AG600 lifting off from Zhuhai airport in the southern province of Guangdong, which sits on the South China Sea coast. It returned about an hour later and taxied to its stand accompanied by martial music and greeted by crowds waving Chinese flags.
Xinhua news agency said the aircraft was the “protector spirit of the sea, islands and reefs”.
It had previously been scheduled to make its first flight earlier this year but it is unclear why it was delayed after
The aircraft, which is roughly the size of a Boeing Co 737 and is designed to carry out marine rescues and battle forest fires.
