China s first homegrown amphibious aircraft makes maiden flight (Lead)

Beijing Dec 24 (IANS) China s first indigenous amphibious aircraft believed to be the world s largest completed its maiden flight on Sunday taking off from Zhuhai the coastal city off the disputed South China Sea.

China is engaged in the military build-up and the successful flight by the aircraft will add to Beijing s might as it grows assertive in its territorial claims in the South China Sea.

The aircraft AG600 code-named "Kunlong" successfully soared into the sky from the Jinwan Civil Aviation Airport. The flight lasted about one hour.

Zhuhai is a port in Guangdong province.

"Its successful maiden flight makes China among the world s few countries capable of developing a large amphibious aircraft " Xinhua news agency quoted Huang Lingcai chief designer of AG600 as saying.

The aircraft powered by four domestically-built turboprop engines has a 39.6-metre-long fuselage and a 38.8-metre wingspan said its developer the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).

According to the AVIC source the amphibious aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of 53.5 tonnes and a top cruising speed of 500 km per hour can fly for 12 hours at a time.

--IANS
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