China launched today two Type 055 guided-missile destroyers at a Shipyard in Dalian, Liaoning province. The two 13,000 tons vessel, which were launched simultaneously, will join the rapidly growing People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN or Chinese Navy) fleet.
China launched simultaneously two Type 055 guided-missile destroyers at a Shipyard in Dalian on July, 3, 2018.
The Type 055 is the latest and most potent surface combatant designed and produced in China. It can fulfill a vast array of missions such as area air defence, anti-surface warfare (ASuW), anti-submarine warfare (ASW), electronic warfare (EW), land attack, long-range patrol...
In addition to protecting the country's interests against all malicious acts, the other main role of the Type 055 is to escort PLAN carrier strike groups (CSG) that are used to project forces, now limited to one with aircraft carrier Liaoning, but it will soon be expanded with the arrival of the new STOBAR carrier and also a third carrier (conventional / CATOBAR) in the next 10 years.
The two Type 055 guided-missile destroyers launched at a Shipyard in Dalian on July, 3, 2018 are the third and fourth one in the series. (Seen here the day before their launch).
Type 055 weapon systems
The current Type 055's weapons fit includes: The 130 mm H/PJ-38 main gun capable of firing several types of rounds including guided ones, the H/PJ-11 CIWS with a fire rate of 10,000 rd/min, the HQ-10 short-range missiles, decoy launchers and torpedoes. All other offensive and defensive missiles are found in the 112 silos of the universal VLS.
These silos are distributed in two places - 64x forward and 48x aft, just in front of the ship's double hangar. They are of the same model as those used on Type 052D, compatible with both hot and cold launch thanks to the Concentric Canister Launcher (CCL) concept.
Theoretically, all Chinese missiles which size does not exceed 9 meters in length and 0.85 meters in diameter can be launched from those VLS cells, provided that the combat system is compatible.
To date, the Chinese navy plans to equip its first few Type 055 with HQ-9B anti-aircraft missiles with a range of 200 km, YJ-18A anti-ship missiles, a new type of medium range anti-aircraft missile and land attack cruise missiles based on the YJ-18 family, ie, practically the same as those already found on Type 052D destroyers. It is also likely that the new anti-submarine missile Yu-8A is among the ship's arsenal.
The two Type 055 guided-missile destroyers are the first one to be launched in Dalian.
The Type 055 Destroyer has a length of 180 meters, a beam of 20 meters and a draft of 6.6 meters for a full load displacement of 13,000t (compared to the US Navy’s Ticonderoga-class cruiser and the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer both at 9,800 tons or the Royal Navy Type 45 at about 8,500 tons).
The first Type 055 Destroyer was launched on June 28, 2017 at the Jiangnan Changxing Shipyard in Shanghai and the second one was launched in April this year at the same shipyard. The two destroyers launched today are the first ones in the series built by Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company. There are at least two more Type 055 under construction (one in each of the two shipyards).
The first four vessels should be delivered to the Chinese Navy before the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan (which runs from 2016 to 2020).
