Type 052 destroyer

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Qingdao-DDG-113.jpg
DDG 113 "Qingdao"
Class overview
Builders: Hudong Shipyard
Operators:  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: General Electric LM2500 gas turbinesCODOG
55,000 shp
Speed: 31 knots
Range: 5,000 miles
Complement: 260
Electronic warfare
and decoys:		 2 x Type 726-4 122mm 24-tube decoy launchers installed on both sides of the forward bridge (After 2011 upgrade)
Armament: 4 x 4 YJ-83 (C-803) anti-ship missiles
1 x 8-cell HQ-7 SAM (8+16 rounds)
1 x Type H/PJ33A dual 100 mm/56 dual purpose gun
2 x Triple Yu-7 torpedo tubes
After the latest system upgrade in mid-2011:
2 x H/PJ12 (Type 730) 7-barrel 30 mm CIWS replaced 4 x Type H/PJ76A dual 37 mm AA guns
2 x Type 87 6-tube ASW rocket launchers replaced 2 x Type 75 12-tube ASW rocket launchers
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 San Diego

The Type 052 Luhu-class was one of the first modern multi-role guided missile destroyers built by China. 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 General Electric LM2500 gas turbine engines from the US, 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 operational capability of the Luhu-class Destroyers has been called into question by naval analysts. Ship visits in 1997 allowed US Naval officers to board and inspect Luhu Destroyer No.112 Harbin and to take numerous photographs. Analysis of these photographs and reporting by officers present strongly suggested that the Luhu Destroyers were mainly intended as technology demonstration vessels rather than serious naval combatants. For example, the large amount of foreign-supplied equipment on-board was still labeled in the language of the country of origin; this was also the case with most of the on-board manuals and other documentation, calling into question the ability of the crew to operate efficiently under stressful circumstances when called upon to deal with equipment labeled in English, French, and Italian, as well as Chinese. Further, the various European systems installed were not originally designed to operate together and as a result were not well integrated; a problem the Chinese could not overcome owing to their lack of familiarity with the underlying technology.

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 some improved electronics from foreign suppliers as well as more advanced weapons. However, in some cases, the designers appear to have opted for less capable indigenous designs to ease the system integration issues suffered by the Luhu-class Destroyers. However, the PLAN was reportedly unhappy with the design of the Luhai-class Destroyers, and production ceased after a single unit was completed. Both of the destroyers have been upgraded during 2011. Four Type 76A guns replaced by two Type 730 CIWS on top of the helicopter hangar. The Crotale/HHQ-7 short-range SAM may have been replaced by the newer model (FM-90?) which provides better interception against sea-skimming AShMs. Also two Type 726-4 decoy launchers were installed on both sides of the forward bridge for better self-protection. Various onboard systems were integrated together (to a certain degree) by a Thomson-CSF TAVITAC combat data system which is thought to have been replaced by a new indigenous C3I system (ZJK-4B or a newer model). The Thomson-CSF Sea Tiger air/surface search radar was first replaced by an indigenous Type 518 Hai Ying radar, and now replaced by a Type 517M long-range air search radar. Also the Type 362 air/surface radar installed on top of the aft mast has been replaced by a Type 364. A pair of SATCOM antennas have been installed on top of the helicopter hangar as well. Currently 112 is still undergoing the similar upgrade. In general, Luhu class represents PLAN's first attempt to build a true "blue water" navy with some success therefore it was quickly superseded by the bigger and more advanced Luhai as well as Soveremenny class DDGs.

[edit] Ships in service

  • 112 Harbin
  • 113 Qingdao - made first visit to New Zealand in April 1998 and Australia in May 1998.
Harbin (DDG 112) entering San Diego harbor

[edit] Specifications (second-refit only)

  • 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 H/PJ33A dual 100 mm/56 caliber gun
    • 4 x Type H/PJ76A dual 37 mm AA guns
    • 2 x Type 7424 324 mm Yu-7 ASW torpedo tubes
    • 2 x Type 75 (RBU-1200) 240 mm 12-tube ASW rocket launchers
  • Electronic Warfare and Countermeasures
    • 1 x Type 984-1 ECM 'X' band jammer (transmitter)
    • 1 x Type 984-4 ECM 'X' band jammer (receiver)
    • 1 x Type 928A ESM
    • 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)

[edit] References

 This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (August 2009)

[edit] External links

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