Asia Looks Seaward

At 154 meters long and displacing 6,500 tons, the two Type 052BLuyang I-

class multi-role missile destroyers commissioned in 2004 are larger than any

destroyers that China has previously built. New indigenous and imported

weapon and sensor systems giveGuangzhou(hull 168) andWuhan(hull 169)

enhanced air-defense capability, as well as basic ASW capability. The PLAN’s

two Type 052CLuyang II-class air-defense guided-missile destroyers are based

on the Type 052B hull.Lanzhou(hull 170), commissioned in 2004, andHaikou

(hull 171), commissioned the followingyear, both possess the indigenously

produced, vertically launched HHQ-9 SAM system and the phased-array

Sea Eagle radar, which resembles U.S. SPY-1 phased-array radars. This last sug-

gests that China may have mastered a potent air- and missile-defense technology

that eluded Soviet technicians.

Two Project 956Sovremenny-class missile destroyers, purchased from Russia in

1996 and delivered in 1999 and 2000, are now designatedHangzhou(hull 136)

andFuzhou(hull 137). Two improved Project 956EM variant vessels (hulls 138

and 139) with enhanced ASCMs, wide-area air-defense systems, and sensors

have also been delivered. ‘‘The long-range [SA-20] SAM systems [that the

LuzhouandLuyang IIdestroyers] possess will provide Chinese surface combat-

ants with an area air defense capability as they operate farther from shore and

outside of the protection of land-basedair defense assets,’’ ONI’s Scott Bray

extrapolates.

Under the protection afforded by these advanced area air defense destroyers, which are

also equipped with long-range ASCMs, the Chinese Navy can operate combatants such

as two recently acquiredSovremennyII [destroyers]. These long-range engagement and

air defense capabilities now being fieldedby the PLA(N) give China a significantly

improved capacity for operations beyond the littoral in support of SLOC protection.^44

China’s inventory of frigates has likewise improved substantially in recent

years. Starting in the 1990s, China’s thirty-two relatively obsolete Type 053

Jianghu-class missile frigates have been supplemented by twelve Type 053H2G

and 053H3Jiangwei-class multi-role missile frigates. Of these, the last eight

vessels of the Type 053H3 (Jiangwei IIclass) possess improved weapon systems

and sensors. In 2005, the PLAN took delivery of two new-generation,Jiangkai-

class Type 054 multi-role frigates,Ma’anshan(hull 525) andWenzhou

(hull 526). These vessels boast French-made diesel engines and a combination

of Russian- and Chinese-made weapon systems, including vertical launch cells

and phased-array radars. In early 2007, according to Internet photos, up to four

Jiangkai IIs were being built at two different shipyards, Guangzhou and Shang-

hai’s Hudong. This is the first class of surface warship of which China has built

more than two since the 1990s.

China’s surface fleet also includes the stealthyHoubei-class Type 2208 fast-

attack missile craft. Since 2004, several Chinese shipyards have delivered at least

80 Asia Looks Seaward