The Harbin SH-5 (, where "水轰" is short for ) is a Chinese

maritime patrol {{Unreferenced, date=March 2008 Maritime patrol is the task of monitoring areas of water. Generally conducted by military and law enforcement agencies, maritime patrol is usually aimed at identifying human activities. Maritime patrol refers to ac ...

amphibious aircraft An amphibious aircraft or amphibian is an aircraft (typically fixed-wing) that can take off and land on both solid ground and water, though amphibious helicopters do exist as well. Fixed-wing amphibious aircraft are seaplanes ( flying boats ...

intended for a wide range of duties, including

aerial firefighting Aerial may refer to: Music * ''Aerial'' (album), by Kate Bush * ''Aerials'' (song), from the album ''Toxicity'' by System of a Down Bands *Aerial (Canadian band) * Aerial (Scottish band) * Aerial (Swedish band) Performance art * Aerial sil ...

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

(ASW) and

air-sea rescue Air-sea rescue (ASR or A/SR, also known as sea-air rescue), and aeronautical and maritime search and rescue (AMSAR) by the ICAO and International Maritime Organization, IMO, is the coordinated search and rescue (SAR) of the survivors of emergenc ...

(ASR). One prototype and six production aircraft have been built.

Design and development

Research to build a seaplane capable of replacing

Beriev Be-6 The Beriev Be-6 (USAF/DoD reporting name "Type 34", NATO reporting name "Madge") was a flying boat produced by the Soviet Union, Soviet Beriev Aircraft Company, Beriev OKB. It was capable of accomplishing a wide variety of missions, such as long- ...

s in service was initiated by the PLANAF in 1968, with designers reassigned from "Objective 3/17", a supersonic canard-wing fighter project. The first prototype flew in 1976; further units were delivered between 1986 and 1990.

Variants

;SH-5B Firefighter :One SH-5 was rebuilt for firefighting duties. :However, by Chinese source, there were total of 7 SH-5 were produced: 3 SH-5X Prototype, 3 Maritime patrol aircraft, and 1 SH-B Firefighter.

Operators

; *

People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force The People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force (PLANAF; ) is the naval aviation branch of the People's Liberation Army Navy. Overview Historically, the PLANAF's main role has been to provide the navy's warships with air defense coverage. Part of ...

received 4 aircraft in 1986. All are operated by the

People's Liberation Army Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN; ), also known as the People's Navy, Chinese Navy, or PLA Navy, is the maritime service branch of the People's Liberation Army. The PLAN traces its lineage to naval units fighting during the Chinese ...

North Sea Fleet The Northern Theater Command Navy (), or the North Sea Fleet (NSF; ) is one of the three fleets of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, under the Northern Theater Command. In September 1950 the Qingdao Army Base was redesignated as a naval ...

from an aircraft base near

Qingdao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

province.

Specifications (SH-5)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * *
''The Harbin SH-5''

''SH-5 Amphibious Aircraft'', Chinese Defence Today
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harbin Sh-5 SH-5 1980s Chinese military aircraft Flying boats Amphibious aircraft Four-engined tractor aircraft Four-engined turboprop aircraft High-wing aircraft Aerial firefighting aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1976 Twin-tail aircraft

Design and development

Variants

Operators

Specifications (SH-5)

See also

References