Type 726-4 is a digital system with expendable passive flare and chaff, and it may include active payloads carried on small rockets. The 052D’s Type 726-4 18-barrel decoy rocket launcher has been installed on earlier 051C, 052B/C and LSD 71 ships. The PJ-12 Gatling gun has a rate of fire of 4,600-5,800 rounds per minute and a 2.5 to 3.5 kilometer engagement range. This seven barrel, 30-millimeter CIWS has been on 054A frigates and prior 051/052 DDGs. On the O-1 level directly behind the 130-millimeter gun is a single H/PJ-12 close-in weapon system (CIWS) with its own radar, electro-optic director and laser rangefinder. This gun also can fire long-range, precision-guided shells not used on prior warships. Its new electrical servo aiming control, based on the Russian AK-130-millimeter gun, and anti-recoil design were enabled by the use of an aluminum and fiberglass stealth shield on the gun mount. The PJ38 has a reported rate of fire of 40 rounds per minute and a maximum range of 29 kilometers. On the forecastle is a new main battery H/PJ38 single-barrel 130-millimeter/70-caliber water-cooled gun developed by the Institute of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering at Zhengzhou. Light Bulb datalink radomes also probably will be added. Satellite communication radomes are adjacent to it. The 2D very high frequency radar is moved forward on the 052D to make deck space for an aft vertical launcher. Mounting plates outboard the stack may be for 30-millimeter guns, but the 052C had boat davits in that location.įurther aft, the VHF Type 517HA relic 1950 vintage yagi antenna is retained. On top of the bridge of the first three 052D hulls is the usual Band Stand over-the-horizon targeting radar radome, along with a Type 344 fire control director and electronic countermeasure (ECM)/jammers on the enclosed mast. Navy DDG 1000 Zumwalt probably will have the new technology X-band track and S-band search dual band radar (DBR) or air missile defense radar (AMDR) currently being developed by three U.S. The 052D has an improved Type 346A AESA radar. Since 2000, new active electronically scanned array (AESA) technology has been the newer, more capable radar design fitted on the 052C Type 346 APAR. Both the Gorshkov and the following carrier Tblisi used mechanical scanning Top Sail/Top Pair radars as their backup air search. The Soviet Sky Watch phased array radar, also a PESA system, first appeared in 1988 on the Soviet carrier Gorshkov but had troubles on sea trials. Navy SPY-1 Aegis radar installed on USS Norton Sound (AVM-1) for ship trials in 1974 used passive electronically scanned array (PESA) technology. The 052D is the destroyer design to be series-produced for future carrier battle groups.Īmong its topside systems, new phased array radar antennas on the 052D are larger than those on the 052C, possibly indicating a lower frequency system. So far the five 052D hulls have been constructed at Changxing Shipyard, but some later versions could be built at other shipyards with modular construction technology. It is estimated that eight to 10 new 052Ds will be built, unlike prior 052 builds. The third hull was launched on July 1, 2013, with at least two more on the way. The first Kunming hull, 172, was launched August 28, 2012, and the second Changsha hull, 173, was launched only three months later. The first 052D hull construction started in 2011 at China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) Changxing Shipyard using modular construction techniques based on Western technology for rapid mass production.
The Type 052C destroyer is the only class thus far that has entered into series production, with six hulls being built. Only the 054A frigate and Type 022 trimaran missile boats had gone into large-series production. Since 1991, China has built only one or two hulls of each of five new classes of guided missile destroyers (DDGs). It likely will be prominent in future PLAN carrier group operations.
Known as the 052D, the destroyer represents the culmination of technology development among People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) destroyers. With room to grow, this ship seems destined to play a significant role in naval operations. Its advances include phased array radars and improved missiles and launch systems. A new destroyer being deployed by China offers improvements in technology that rival those of the newest destroyers being built for the U.S.