Surface Forces: August 7, 2003

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China has begun sea trials for the first ship of a new class (052B) of destroyers. Somewhat similar to the USS Burke class destroyers, the Chinese ships appear to be about 8,000 tons displacement. There are armed with two Russian made SA-N-12 surface to air missile launchers. There are two automatic cannons for anti-missile defense, a 100mm gun in a turret and four 4-cell YJ-82/83 anti-ship missile launchers. There also appears to be a phased-array radar and various other flare and smoke rocket launchers for defense. The power plant consists of two Ukrainian made gas turbines and two Chinese made diesel engines. In the past, the Chinese have had a difficult time getting all the complex systems in Chinese built warships to work together. So American surveillance ships and aircraft will be carefully watching the first 052B to see how much progress the Chinese have made. There is one other ship of this class under construction. Many design ideas and construction techniques are thought to have come from the Sovremenny class Russian destroyers that China has purchased. 

 

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