China to export Type 052D destroyers, signalling more advanced ships in the pipeline: analyst

The warships will be the most powerful anti-aircraft vessels on the global market, according to military magazine
However, sales could be limited as buyers such as Pakistan probably cannot afford to add many to their fleets, naval expert says

China’s military

Liu Zhen

Published: 12:00pm, 12 Feb 2023

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China is attempting to export its Type 052D guided-missile destroyer as the country’s navy moves on to producing more advanced warships, according to military experts.

Code-named the Type 052DE for export, the 7,500-tonne destroyer with advanced integrated radar, missile and command systems would be the most powerful anti-aircraft vessel available on the global market, according to an article in the Chinese military magazine Naval and Merchant Ships last week.

It noted that the US only offered a core combat system – the Aegis – for export, rather than entire ships with long-range air defence capabilities.

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Like the Chinese navy’s latest Type 052D, the Type 052DE is 161 metres (528 feet) long, 18 metres wide and powered by combined diesel or gas propulsion systems capable of sailing at speeds of up to 32 knots.

It is armed with a 64-cell vertical launching system (VLS) that can fire a variety of air defence, land-attack, anti-ship and anti-submarine missiles with the help of active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar.

“This means the Type 052D is no longer the latest killer product, otherwise it wouldn’t have been put up for sale,” said Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie. “The technologies it uses are mature, and the navy is confident in sharing.”

He said the successor to the Type 052D, which would probably be called the Type 052E, must already be in the pipeline.

Li said the navy would always have a strong demand for warships with displacement of 7,000 to 8,000 tonnes (7,716 to 8,818 tons) because they were useful in most scenarios.

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When it was introduced in 2014, the Type 052D was considered a milestone for the Chinese navy’s modernisation and expansion.

Featuring AESA radar for air and surface search, VLS and digital fire control systems, the ships were China’s attempt to rival the US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, which is of similar size and fitted with the Aegis Combat System.

As a result of a shipbuilding spree over the past decade, the Chinese navy has become the world’s largest by number of ships. The Type 052D has played an important role in this boom, serving as the main type of surface combatant in China’s destroyer fleets.

Construction on the first ship of this class, the Kunming, began in 2012, and the ship was commissioned in 2014. By the end of 2022, a total of 25 Type 052Ds had entered service, with at least six more ships reportedly under construction.

During the same period, China’s navy added to its inventory with two domestically built aircraft carriers, eight 12,000-tonne Type 055 destroyers and three 40,000-tonne Type 075 amphibious assault ships.

This means the Type 052D is no longer the latest killer product, otherwise it wouldn’t have been put up for sale

Li Jie, naval expert

Li said Chinese shipyards had developed enough production capacity to satisfy the navy’s needs, with additional capacity for building exports.

“The [Chinese navy’s] shipbuilding pattern is to expand the numbers in small batches, while collecting feedback from actual operations to make improvements,” he said. “Foreign users could offer opinions from different perspectives, which would be very valuable.”

The multi-role Type 052D destroyer has undergone modifications over the years.

Most notably, the recent batch of ships active since 2021, sometimes referred to as the Type 05DL, have extended flight decks for helicopters, improved propulsion systems and upgraded anti-stealth radar. The Type 052DE is based on this extended version of the ship.

However, Li said he did not expect a huge volume of Type 052DE sales because the large, advanced destroyers would be expensive, and the usual buyers of Chinese warships, such as Pakistan, could not afford many.

“Selling this ship is a friendly gesture and a way to increase influence,” he said.