The world’s largest amphibious aircraft, the China-made AG600, made its maiden flight and comes as the latest milestone in the country’s efforts to modernise its military.

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".

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.

Powered by four turboprop engines, the AG600 can carry 50 people during maritime search-and-rescue missions, and can scoop up 12 metric tons of water within 20 seconds for fire fighting trips, according to state media.

It had previously been scheduled to make its first flight earlier this year but it is unclear why it was delayed after ground tests took place in April.

State-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC) has spent almost eight years developing the aircraft, which is roughly the size of a Boeing Co 737 and is designed to carry out marine rescues and battle forest fires.

http://www.globaltrends.info/2017/12/china-launch-worlds-largest-amphibious.html

the beauty of the mind is in its ability to construct the tangible; build worlds out of mere thoughts

Nice achievement by the Chinese. I can start seeing the reasons why America is scared of China.

China is really proactive in its bid to take over the world completely. The beauty of modern day China is that very few people in the world now associate fake products to Chinese people. Even though they still mass-produce fake products and pass it for real ones. Irony of it is you'd never know because the media is reporting China in good light on a daily and her technological advancement is only rivalled by Russia, it's only a matter of time before China is seen as "the big brother" in the whole of Asia.
The sad news is America right now is not even in a position to put up any fight, and an even more sad news is that it's very hard distinguishing the West from America. Europe and the UN is doing everything possible to distant itself from Trump-led America. I salute the courage and ingenuity of the Chinese people. They have come very far.
I wish Africa can do something and be proactive in development.

New super power in the world

American era is over......