Type 052 destroyer

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DDG 113 "Qingdao"
Class overview
Builders: Hudong Shipyard
Operators: Naval flag of People's Republic of China People's Liberation Army Navy
Preceded by: Type 051
Succeeded by: Type 051B
In service: May 1994
Completed: 2
Active: Harbin
Qingdao
General characteristics
Displacement: 4,800 tons
Length: 144 m
Beam: 16 m
Draught: 5.1 m
Propulsion: CODOG
55,000 shp
Speed: 31 knots
Range: 5,000 miles
Complement: 260
Armament: 16 anti-ship missiles
32 surface-to-air missiles
2 dual purpose guns
8 anti-aircraft guns
Aircraft carried: 2 helicopters: Harbin Z-9 or Kamov Ka-27
Aviation facilities: Single helicopter landing platform
Two helicopter hangar
Helicopter landing system
Luhu Destroyer Harbin on a visit to Auckland
Luhu Destroyer Harbin on a visit to Auckland

The Type 052 Luhu-class is one of the first modern multi-role missile-equipped destroyer built by China. It is one of the most advanced in PLAN's inventory. There are currently two units in active service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) with no plans of further construction of additional units.

Contents

[edit] History

Designed by the China Warship Design Institute (formerly the Seventh Academy of the Ministry of National Defense), the ships were built at Jiangnan Shipyard. No.112 Harbin was the first Luhu destroyer followed by No.113 Qingdao. The chief designer is academician Mr. Pan Jingfu (潘镜芙). The class is said to be the first indigenous Chinese warship design approaching modern standards, a significant improvement over the earlier Luda class. The Luhu made extensive use of foreign technologies that were accessible to the PRC prior to the Tiananmen Square incident of 1989. These included French-made radars and fire-control systems and the GE LM2500 gas turbine engines from the U.S., two of which power each ship.

Even with incorporation of Western technology, the chronic lack of adequate ship-borne air defense system have had great impact on the PLAN operations. Equipped with a small number of surface-to-air missiles with visual-range only, and guns with limited range and performance, Chinese warships had historically limited their operations within the area covered by their land-based aircraft due to a lack of fleet defense capability. To rectify this trend, the Luhu destroyers (and the smaller Jiangwei class frigate) were fitted with the HQ-7 SAM that gives it much better air defense capability than any other previous Chinese design, though still limited to within visual range (WVR).

The HQ-7 SAM system is reported to be equipped with 8 ready to fire missiles, plus 16 stored in a semi-automatic reloader system. The same system is also used on the upgraded 051G Luda Destroyer.

In spite of the advances, the 052 Luhu Destroyer still suffers in some areas such as electronic warfare and electronic counter-measures. The Chinese attempted to address these problems with the introduction of an improved Luhu design, the Luhai-class. This follow-on, essentially an enlarged Luhu, features improved electronics from foreign suppliers as well as more advanced weapons.

[edit] Ships in service

Harbin (DDG 112) entering San Diego harbor

[edit] Specifications (post-refit)

  • Unit cost - > 1 billion renminbi yuan per ship by 1980's price
  • Propulsion CODOG config
  • Length - 467.8 feet / 142.6 meter
  • Beam - 49.5 feet / 15.3 meters
  • Draft - 16.7 feet / 5 meters
  • Displacement - 4,200 tons (standard), 4,800 tons (full load)
  • Speed - 31 knots
  • Endurance - 4,000 nm at 15 kt
  • Crew - 260 (40 officers)
  • C3I
  • Radar/Sonar
  • Armament
    • 4 x quad YJ-83 (C-803) AShM box launchers
    • 1 x 8-cell HQ-7 SAM with 8 ready to fire missiles + 16 spare missiles
    • 1 x Type PJ-33A dual 100 mm/56 caliber gun
    • 4 x Type 76A dual 37 mm AA guns
    • 2 x triple 324 mm Yu-7 ASW torpedo tubes
    • 2 x Type 75 (RBU-1200) 240 mm 12-tube ASW rocket launchers
    • 2 x Type 946 15-barrel chaff/decoy launcher
  • Helicopter
    • 2 x Kamov Ka-27 'Helix' or Harbin Z-9C (licensed copy of the Eurocopter Dauphin)
  • Designer:
    • Design Institute: 701st Research Institute of China Warship Design Institute (the Seventh Academy of the Ministry of National Defense),
    • General Designer: Mr. Pan Jingfu (潘镜芙, Jan 20, 1930－）,

[edit] External links