China debuts AEGIS destroyers with 052C

The People’s Liberation Army Navy recently introduced two domestically designed and built guided missile destroyers that include Aegis-type radars and related technologies. Known as Project 052C guided missile destroyers (DDGs), the ships feature Aegis-type phased array panels, vertical launch systems, long-range missiles and considerable command and control. These capabilities were not found on any previous Chinese-built DDGs.

China is building only two 052C ships, and the next ship under construction will have a different Aegis and VLS suite. Even so, the mere existence of People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) warships with long-range phased array radar, communications to other naval assets and over-the-horizon ship-to-ship missiles (SSMs) complicates planning by other naval powers for the Taiwan Straits or other disputed Pacific Ocean waters.

China’s first 6,600-ton missile destroyer with an Aegis-type four-plate phased array antenna is the Lanzhou DDG 170 launched in Jiangnan Shipyard in April 2003. The DDG 171 followed six months later. Their undesignated Chinese radar is different from the Aegis or Sky Watch phased array radars. This radar is C-band instead of L- or F-band, and it has convex curved arrays instead of flat panels. The four arrays are 4.6 meters high x 3.9 meters wide, and they face out from the forward deckhouse as on the U.S. DDG 51. China reportedly has purchased two advanced Russian phased array radars for a follow-on larger air defense DDG 103 ship that is under construction at the Dalien shipyard. The short one- or two-ship production runs are a trademark of post-Luda DDG designs.

When the U.S. Navy installed its first MK 41 VLS on the Ticonderoga-class Aegis cruiser CG-52 in 1989, it featured 64 missile cells forward and 32 cells aft. The MK 41 VLS cells launch multiwarfare missiles. The first Russian VLS trials were with SAN-6 missiles on the fourth Kara cruiser in 1977, and the 8,000-ton Udaloy DDG had eight SAN-9 VLS hatches. Both SAN-6 and SAN-9 VLS systems featured round modules with eight cells each and had a large unique Top Dome or Cross Sword acquisition and guidance fire control director and radar/datalink.

The PLAN DDG 170 and 171 feature six HHQ-9 VLS launcher modules forward of the bridge and two aft by the helicopter hanger. At first glance the Chinese VLS launcher looks like the Russian VLS, but there are major differences. The Chinese VLS modules each have two fewer cells than the original Soviet VLS, and the Russian VLS has only one hatch, as eight cells with blow-out patches rotate under it to launch. The rationale that the Russian eight-cell modules were too large for the smaller Chinese DDG hull does not seem valid because the diameter of the Russian module is only 1.5 feet larger than the Chinese module. Possibly, China used S-300 missiles, and Russia provided no naval SAN-6 equipment

The Chinese Aegis DDGs have their own Ka-25 helicopters that can have distant reconnaissance or targeting capabilities and possibly can even carry missiles, although the Aegis concept is to pass target data to the control ship that would launch its weapons. Long-range shore-based fighter aircraft such as the Su-30MKK with its M400 over-the-horizon multispectral reconnaissance pod can pass target data back or can even be vectored to attack with its own long-range 3M80 Moskit missiles by the control ship. The early Su-27SK had an analog voice-encoding link, but the newer Su-30MKK has a TKS-22 datalink. China is negotiating with Russia to equip future Su-30 MK2 aircraft to include the next-generation TSIMSS-1 digital datalink. The DDG 107 would need the appropriate Sukhoi-variant link.

Source : www.afcea.org...


Cool, China now has a destroyer with Aegis capabilites, in a smaller size (6600 tons compared to the tiniest American Aegis, the Arleigh Burke at 8400 tons), featuring phased array radars and antennas and with other advanced electronic functions.

This improves China's blue water capability by a lot, but China is still not a true blue water power yet. With the introduction of more 052Cs, China will be able to project power much more efficently over Taiwan if needed.

Pics of 052C:


Launch cells


Langzhou


Phased array radar


171 and 170 at shipyard

That is a FUGLY DDG. Be interesting to see how it performs though.

I love the lines of the 52C actually.


external image



[edit on 10-7-2005 by asala]

China's New Missile Destroyer: the 'Magic Shield of China'

The launch of China's first destroyer equipped with home-made ship-based missile operational system has been reported by Jane's Defense Weekly. The destroyer, the correspondence of US "Aegis", was dubbed the "magic shield of China" by Western military strategists.

english.peopledaily.com.cn...


anyway china has already started construction on a new aegis type destroyer. with alot more VLS launchers
www.china-defense.com...

Looks like a large toy. I wonder if it has a lot of plywood inside, like one U.S sailor reported of a visiting Chinese warship.

[edit on 9-7-2005 by NWguy83]

Originally posted by chinawhite

Hmmm? Why isn't it numbered 172 instead? It looks more like a 051 to me than a 052C. What equipment will it pack?

Looks like a large toy. I wonder if it has a lot of plywood inside, like one U.S sailor reported of a visiting Chinese warship

Yeah sure, same American arrogance I won't even answer that.

Originally posted by W4rl0rD

Hmmm? Why isn't it numbered 172 instead? It looks more like a 051 to me than a 052C. What equipment will it pack?


the hull and everything is almost indentical to the Luhai. it'll pack more VLS missile launchers not to sure what missile. maybe russian S-300 or chine
se HQ-9

Um, you know it HAS been reported that there was a lot of wood inside a Chinese warship some American sailors went on. Maybe it was a legitimate quiestion. I'm kind of curious about it too. If you want to put wood on a ship, more power to ya. Nothing says you HAVE to use all metal. Maybe it was just fixtures and things, I don't know as I haven't seen the inside of a Chinese ship. I would like to know more about them. But I guess this will be seen as more American arrogance as well since anything being said about another military seeems to be seen that way lately.

Why does China keep building up their army and navy and airforce if they know they will simply start a world war if they try to invade Tawian......

Curious..

This ship is old news for people who follow Countries attempts at defence. While China's new system will not have the capability of the US Navies Aegis system I would like to point out an error in the Chinese ship building plans. They keep building one or two of a class and then move on to the next. That causes several different problems. Support for several different classes of ships is very hard. In the end it is not worth it. That is why the US Navy has over 50 Burke class ships.

Originally posted by jetsetter
This ship is old news for people who follow Countries attempts at defence. While China's new system will not have the capability of the US Navies Aegis system I would like to point out an error in the Chinese ship building plans. They keep building one or two of a class and then move on to the next. That causes several different problems. Support for several different classes of ships is very hard. In the end it is not worth it. That is why the US Navy has over 50 Burke class ships.

actually all these ships have the same basic superstructure. they use the same tubines. but different weapons

Originally posted by Raideur
Why does China keep building up their army and navy and airforce if they know they will simply start a world war if they try to invade Tawian......

Curious..

wait am i hearing this correctly. why would you build up your army to go to war

That's the point of saying it can be a problem though. You put different weapons on the same ships that will be fighting together, and your resupply ships now have to carry less of one type of ammo, to carry different types, or you have to have more resupply ships. That's why the US Navy uses the SM-2 and SM-3 missiles on most of the Aegis ships. You pack a resupply ship with them, and you only have to worry about one type of missile when you're resupplying. One resupply ship to many ships, instead of having to figure out what ships are where, use what weapons, and what needs to be loaded on the different ships. It just adds a lot of complexity to the warfighting problem.

How is China managing to manufacture such advanced weapon systems.

I'm impressed and concerned at the same time.

Originally posted by chinawhite
wait am i hearing this correctly. why would you build up your army to go to war

No, the question was that if China actually knows that it will cause a major war if they invade Taiwan, then why are they building up their military so fast and so big unless they want a war.

Originally posted by Zaphod58

Originally posted by chinawhite
wait am i hearing this correctly. why would you build up your army to go to war

No, the question was that if China actually knows that it will cause a major war if they invade Taiwan, then why are they building up their military so fast and so big unless they want a war.

there not actually building up. the PLA is scaling down. the pla is just modernizing.

MAybe china is trying to ensure that they can acheive some sort of parity with the USN Pacific fleet vis-a-vis a Taiwan invasion..
Aegis type destroyers...
I think a more in-depth comparision of this type 52C and the actual Aegis is in order..
PHased Array radar makes it Aegis?? Who's the expert on this?

Here ya go. Take a read of this and see if it helps any.

www.fas.org...

EDIT: posted in wrong thread

[edit on 9-7-2005 by chinawhite]

Phased array radars are similar to the SPY radars used on the Ticoderoga and Burke class ships. However, Aegis is more than a ship with a huge radar. Its primary mission during the cold war was to defend carrier battle groups from saturation attacks involving Soviet SSGN's an Backfire bombers. Aegis is better thought as total battle management system that fuses data from multiple sensors and ships.


While the PLAN now clearly has a phased array radar ship it is not clear if it had an Aegis like capacity .