The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy has commissioned a new Type 052D class destroyer, the Tongchuan, into service in the South China Sea. The warship is the 35th of its class to have become operational, which alongside ten Type 055 class destroyers provides the Navy with 45 destroyers of the latest generation. This is a particularly significant landmark as these ships only began to be brought into service little over a decade ago. (From: Military Watch Magazine.)
The first Type 052D class destroyer the Kunming was commissioned in March 2014, while the first Type 055 class destroyer the Nanchang was commissioned in January 2020. Chinese shipyards have in recent years produced destroyers at rates of 6-10 per year, with the large majority of Type 052D class ships having been built at the Jiangnan Shipyard, while the first ship built at the Dalian Shipyard, where a smaller number have been built, was commissioned in February 22. The Tongchuan is the third destroyer of its class, and the fifth destroyer overall, commissioned by the Navy in 2026.
The Type 052D is in many respects the most important class of warship program in modern Chinese history, and was the first destroyer to be produced at scale reflecting the fact that it was the first destroyer type from the country that entered service at a technologically world leading level. While externally similar to the Type 052C class, its combat potential is several times greater, with its most outstanding improvement being the integration of a modern universal canister-based vertical launch system much like that seen on U.S., Japanese and South Korean destroyers. Earlier Type 052C destroyers used a revolver-style vertical launch system primarily optimised for long range surface-to-air missiles, limiting their flexibility. The Type 052D’s 64 cell universal vertical launch system integrates a much wider range of weapons, including HHQ-9 long-range surface-to-air missiles, YJ-18 anti-ship cruise missiles, YJ-100 land-attack cruise missiles, YJ-20 anti-ship ballistic missiles, and anti-submarine rocket torpedoes.
The Type 052D’s production scale allowed the Navy to standardise training, logistics, maintenance, and doctrine, and to shift away from a green water fleet toward a genuine blue water capability. This has included serving as an escort for the Navy’s growing carrier task forces, which are increasingly focused on far seas operations in large part to combat Western plans for potential distant blockade operations. Optimising its ability to function as a part of such task forces, the warships integrate modern tactical datalinks broadly comparable in function to NATO’s Link 16 concept, allowing destroyers to share and receive targeting and sensor data in real time from other destroyers, as well as aircraft, submarines, shore-based assets, and smaller types of warships. This better enables the Type 052D to function as part of a larger integrated combat network, which is a critical requirement for modern naval operations.
Compared to previous Chinese destroyer classes, the Type 052D benefits from a significantly superior radar and combat system, as while the Type 052C pioneered China’s naval active electronically scanned array radar technology, the Type 052D introduced the more advanced Type 346A radar and improved combat management systems. The result was a significant improvement in target tracking capabilities, greater resistance to electronic warfare, and an enhanced capability against complex missile raids and stealth threats. Later Type 052D batches have incorporated further radar upgrades and more sophisticated electronic warfare systems, some of which have specifically focused on maximising situational awareness against stealth targets.
