The AG600 was previously known as the TA-600; Assembly was still on its way in October 2015. The prototype was rolled out on 23 July 2016 at the Zhuhai AVIC factory. At the roll-out, AVIC targeted a maiden flight by the end of 2016 and it has then gathered 17 orders, all from the
Chinese government including the
China Coast Guard, AVIC does not expect to produce it in large numbers. On 24 December 2017, it made its
maiden flight from
Zhuhai Jinwan Airport. In May 2018, AVIC planned to have
Civil Aviation Administration of China type certification completed by 2021 and deliveries starting in 2022. After transfer from Zhuhai to
Jingmen, the prototype started low-speed
taxiing on the Zhanghe
reservoir on 30 August 2018. On 20 October 2018, the prototype AG600 completed its first water take-off and landing at Jingmen's Zhanghe Reservoir and on 26 July 2020, the AG600 completed its first test flight from the ocean, after taking off from
Qingdao. An AG600M, being a dedicated firefighting model, successfully completed scooping and dropping water tests in September 2022. Further variants may be developed for
maritime surveillance,
resource detection,
passenger and
cargo transport. ==Design==