Type 052D destroyer

Type 052D destroyer
Class overview
Builders:	Changxingdao-Jiangnan Shipyard
Operators:	People's Liberation Army Navy
Preceded by:	Type 052C
Built:	February 2012–present
In service:	March 2014–present
Building:	6
Active:	25
General characteristics
Tonnage:	7500 tons fully loaded.
Length:	156 m
Beam:	18 m
Draught:	6.5 m
Propulsion:	CODOG Two QC-280 gas turbine engines, each generates 28MW of power and two MTU 20V 956TB92 diesel engines, each generates 6 MW of power.
Speed:	30 knots
Complement:	280
Sensors and processing systems:	Next generation shipborne AESA radar Type 517M L band long range radar Type 385
Armament:	1 x H/PJ-38 130mm dual purpose gun 1 x 24 Cell FL3000N CIWS 64 VLS for surface to air missiles, cruise missiles, anti submarine missiles, anti ship missiles, some of which can be quad packed 2 x 30 mm remote controlled gun H/PJ-12 / 1 x Type 730 CIWS 6 torpedo tubes 4 x 18-tube decoy rocket launcher
Aviation facilities:	Stern hangar Helicopter landing platform

The Type 052D destroyer is a class of guided missile destroyers being deployed by the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy.

After the Type 052C destroyer (NATO code name Luyang II class, or Lanzhou class after the lead ship), two new hulls were spotted under construction at Changxingdao-Jiangnan Shipyard (JNCX) in August 2012. According to the picture, they were armed with a new 130mm main gun and new Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar system. Altogether seven vessels of this class are now fitting out or under construction, with a further four on order or planned and one vessel on sea trial.

Design

The layout of the Type 052D is similar to the earlier Type 052C, but the superstructure of the Type 052D slopes inward at a greater angle, providing superior stealth. The helicopter hangar on the Type 052D is moved to the center, as opposed to being on the left like on the Type 052C. A pair of enclosed boat/raft launching systems similar to that of the Type 054A frigate is added, with one on each side of the helicopter hangar. The Type 517HA VHF radar mast is moved toward the stern of the ship. There are several mounting sites for a new single barrel 30 mm stealthy gun mount that is fully automated. The addition of this small caliber weapon is presumably for the need to counter non-conventional threats such as potential terrorist attacks and anti-piracy operations, but as of the end of 2012, no 30mm gun mounts have been observed to be installed on the hull yet.

Due to the greater angle of superstructure slope, more space was made available for the active phased array radar (APAR), which first appeared in June 2012 onboard PLAN experimental ship Bi Sheng. It is believed that this new APAR is a development of earlier ones mounted on the Type 052C. One of the main differences is that the size of the new array is larger, so presumably there are more transceivers on each array. Another obvious difference is that the curvature resulted in the need for air circulation on earlier APAR on Type 052C is gone, so it is believed that the new APAR on Type 052D must have adopted a pure liquid cooling system instead of the mixed air and liquid cooling system on earlier APAR on board Type 052C.

Vertical Launching System

The Type 052D has a brand new vertical launching system (VLS) for surface-to-air missiles, cruise missiles, anti-submarine missiles, and anti-ship missiles, and is capable of quad-packing missiles and cold launch; it is the third type of Chinese VLS system identified, after the circular version of VLS on Type 052C destroyer and the rectangular version on Type 054A frigate. The VLS system on Type 052D differs from that on Type 052C. The circular-shaped VLS system on Type 052C is replaced by the VLS with rectangular cells on Type 052D. Moreover, this western-like VLS looks different from the VLS system of Type 054A. Photo shows that Type 052D's VLS system does not contain the shared exhaust vents between the rows of lunching tubes, which is the common feature of Type 054A's VLS. Instead, the VLS on Type 052D looks more similar to the American Mk 41 VLS, but without obvious indication of exhausts. The lack of exhaust vents in the leaked photos leads to some Chinese internet forums postulating the cold launch method is adopted on Type 052D, but such claims cannot be confirmed by independent or official sources.

There are many other Chinese internet forums claiming that the difference between the VLS on Type 052D and VLS on Type 054A is simply a rearrangement of exhaust to a different location and Type 052D is still utilizing the hot launch method like Type 054A, but used a more advanced method of concentric canister launch (CCL) system (同心筒式垂直发射系统), first pioneered by USA in the mid-1990 for Mk 41 VLS upgrade. This second claim appears more probable than the cold launch claims, because official Chinese sources have confirmed the existence of CCL VLS developmental program headed by the School of Mechatronics Engineering of Beijing Institute of Technology, and various research papers have been publicized, such as the effect of the flow mechanism and annular size of CCL and others. It's reported that chief designers of Chinese CCL VLS included Professor Yuan Zenfeng (袁曾凤), Professor Miao Peiyun (苗佩云) and professor Liang Shijie (梁世杰). When using CCL method, the flame produced in hot launch is diverted through the space between the inner and outer canisters within each individual VLS cell, so no specially dedicated exhaust shared by several cells are needed, thus similar to how British vertical launched (VL) Sea Wolf missile operates, and this is why CCL VLS can be mistaken for cold launch due to the lack of dedicated exhaust sandwiched between two rolls of cells in traditional VLS, while in reality, the exhaust of CCL VLS is within each individual cell.

What is also confirmed by semi-official sources in China is that the VLS on Type 052D is built to GJB 5860-2006 standard (GJB = Guo-jia Jun-yong Biao-zhun, 国家军用标准, "National Military Standard"), so that different types of missiles can be launched by a single launching system. According to some of the publicized examples of GJB 5860-2006 requirement, there are 3 types of VLS that differs in length: 9 meter, 7 meter and 3.3 meter respectively (section 5.1.3), but the diameter is same for all, 850 mm maximum (section 6.1.2), with each launching tube filled with either dry air or nitrogen inside (section 6.1.4), and with higher internal pressure. (section 6.1.4). Similar to U.S. Navy's MK 41, a launching module includes 8 launching tubes (section 5.2.4), and each tube can house 1~4 missiles (section 5.2.4). Each launching model has a launching control unit (section 5.3.7), which can simultaneously launch up to 4 missiles of different kind (section 5.3.6). The launching control unit must have build-in test/diagnostic function (section 5.3.8). These publicized portions of GJB 5860-2006 are surprisingly similar to that of Mk 41 VLS, which prompt some Chinese internet sources to claim that there are potential future export of such system so that it has to comply to Mk 41 VLS, the most widely used VLS in the world.

Naval Gun

Another improvement of the Type 052D is that the Type H/PJ87 100 mm gun on the Type 052C is replaced by a new single barrel 130 mm gun, designated as the Type H/PJ38.

Data Link

Various Chinese internet sources have claimed that Type 052D is equipped with a newest Chinese data link which has just completed national certification in Jun 2012 and publicized by the end of year. Designated as JSIDLS (Joint Service Integrated Data Link System, 全军综合数据链系统), this is the Chinese equivalent of Link 16, a significant improvement of earlier HN-900 which is the Chinese equivalent of Link 11/TADIL-A installed on Type 052C. The general designer of JSIDLS is Major General Wang Jianxi (王建新), who was the also head of the research institute of the People's Liberation Army General Staff Department assigned as primary contractor of JSIDLS. More than 300 establishments and 8000 people were involved in the development of JSIDLS, and it won State Science and Technology Prizes after completion.

Chinese "Aegis"

Chinese military, diplomatic, and media circles informally designate the Type 052D as "Zhonghuashendun / 中华神盾 Aegis". The new destroyer is equipped with a flat-array AESA radar, a 64-cell VLS and modern long-range anti-air missiles. The destroyer is expected to have capabilities approaching those of a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

Ships of Class

Pennant no.	Name	Namesake	Builder	Launched	Commissioned	Fleet	Status
Type 052D
172	昆明 / Kunming	Provincial capital of Yunnan, Kunming	Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) Co., Ltd., Changxingdao	28 August 2012	21 March 2014	South Sea Fleet	Active
173	长沙 / Changsha	Provincial capital of Hunan, Changsha	Jiangnan Shipyard, Changxingdao	18 December 2012	12 August 2015	South Sea Fleet	Active
174	合肥 / Hefei	Provincial capital of Anhui, Hefei	Jiangnan Shipyard, Changxingdao	1 March 2013	12 December 2015	South Sea Fleet	Active
175	银川 / Yinchuan	Regional capital of Ningxia, Yinchuan	Jiangnan Shipyard, Changxingdao	28 March 2014	12 July 2016	South Sea Fleet	Active
117	西宁 / Xining	Provincial capital of Qinghai, Xining	Jiangnan Shipyard, Changxingdao	26 August 2014	22 January 2017	North Sea Fleet	Active
154	厦门 / Xiamen	City of Xiamen	Jiangnan Shipyard, Changxingdao	30 December 2014	10 June 2017	East Sea Fleet	Active
118	乌鲁木齐 / Ürümqi	Regional capital of Xinjiang, Ürümqi	Jiangnan Shipyard, Changxingdao	7 July 2015	January 2018	North Sea Fleet	Active
119	贵阳 / Guiyang	Provincial capital of Guizhou, Guiyang	Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company	28 November 2015	22 February 2019	North Sea Fleet	Active
155	南京 / Nanjing	Provincial capital of Jiangsu, Nanjing	Jiangnan Shipyard, Changxingdao	28 December 2015	April 2018	East Sea Fleet	Active
161	呼和浩特 / Hohhot	Regional capital of Inner Mongolia, Hohhot	Jiangnan Shipyard, Changxingdao	26 December 2016	12 January 2019	South Sea Fleet	Active
131	太原 / Taiyuan	Provincial capital of Shanxi, Taiyuan	Jiangnan Shipyard, Changxingdao	28 July 2016	3 December 2018	East Sea Fleet	Active
120	成都 / Chengdu	Provincial capital of Sichuan, Chengdu	Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company	3 August 2016	22 November 2019	North Sea Fleet	Active
121	齐齐哈尔 / Qiqihar	City of Qiqihar	Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company	26 June 2017	14 August 2020	North Sea Fleet	Active
Type 052D (stretched)
156	淄博 / Zibo	City of Zibo	Jiangnan Shipyard, Changxingdao	14 August 2018	14 January 2020	East Sea Fleet	Active
122	唐山 / Tangshan	City of Tangshan	Jiangnan Shipyard, Changxingdao	7 July 2018	14 August 2020	North Sea Fleet	Active
132	苏州 / Suzhou	City of Suzhou	Jiangnan Shipyard, Changxingdao	18 December 2018	January 2021	East Sea Fleet	Active
123	淮南 / Huainan	City of Huainan	Jiangnan Shipyard, Changxingdao	15 April 2019	February 2021	North Sea Fleet	Active
162	南宁 / Nanning	Provincial capital of Guangxi, Nanning	Jiangnan Shipyard, Changxingdao	23 February 2019	12 April 2021	South Sea Fleet	Active
124	开封 / Kaifeng [zh]	City of Kaifeng	Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company	10 May 2019	16 April 2021	North Sea Fleet	Active
165	湛江 / Zhanjiang [zh]	City of Zhanjiang	Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company	10 May 2019	25 December 2021	South Sea Fleet	Active
164	桂林 / Guilin [zh]	City of Guilin	Jiangnan Shipyard, Changxingdao	26 September 2019	September 2021	South Sea Fleet	Active
133	包头 / Baotou [zh]	City of Baotou	Jiangnan Shipyard, Changxingdao	28 August 2019	28 December 2021	East Sea Fleet	Active
134	绍兴 / Shaoxing [zh]	City of Shaoxing (in Zhejiang)	Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company	26 December 2019	February 2022	East Sea Fleet	Active
163	焦作 / Jiaozuo [zh]	City of Jiaozuo	Jiangnan Shipyard, Changxingdao	28 December 2019	January 2022	South Sea Fleet	Active
157	丽水 / Lishui [zh]	City of Lishui	Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company	30 August 2020	June 2022	East Sea Fleet	Active

See also

• Arleigh Burke-class destroyer; United States
• Kongō-class destroyer; Japanese
• Atago-class destroyer; Japanese
• Sejong the Great-class destroyer; Korean
• Álvaro de Bazán-class frigate; Spanish
• Type 45 (Daring-class) destroyer; United Kingdom

External links

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