AG600.

This is coolbert:

China now # 1! At least with regard amphibious aircraft!

"China unveils 'world's largest amphibious aircraft'"

"Crowd gathers at a ceremony to unveil the AG600 amphibious plane"

    "The Chinese-built AG600 seaplane has a maximum range of 4,500 km and is intended for fighting forest fires and performing marine rescues" ABOUT THE SIZE OF A COMMERCIAL BOEING 737.

Fire fighting and marine rescues. AND I MIGHT WELL IMAGINE MILITARY AVIATION OPERATIONS IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA!!

Prior this the largest amphibious aircraft were experimental and prototype versions only that never went into production?

I am thinking of the Howard Hughes "Spruce Goose" and those Soviet ekranoplans such as the "Caspian Sea Monster"!

The "Spruce Goose" from the era of the Second World War. A one-of-a-kind!

Soviet "Caspian Sea Monster". To get some sense of scale you can see persons on top of and along side the aircraft!

Does anyone doubt even for a second the potential military application of the AG600?

See my previous blog entry the topic of which was heavy-lift seaplanes:

 http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/05/seaplanes-v.html

coolbert.