Known as the Aegis destroyer, the Type 052D destroyer has gained another "shield." Previously captured in Dalian Shipyard with five ships under construction at the same time, the Type 052D has quietly entered service. Meanwhile, the pace of the Chinese Navy's construction of destroyers shows no signs of slowing down.

Recently, during the full-service assessment organized by the Southern Theater Navy, multiple warships were involved. In the related news report footage, an improved Type 052D destroyer equipped with a new mast radar was spotted.

[Type 052DM Destroyer Weinan]

This Type 052D destroyer is the recently commissioned 166 "Weinan." It belongs to the latest fourth batch of improved Type 052D destroyers and is colloquially referred to as the "Type 052DM."

Compared to its predecessors, the main change in the fourth batch of Type 052D destroyers is the installation of an X-band rapid-response radar, which is the fifth "shield" mentioned earlier. This significantly enhances its ability to detect low, slow, small targets and stealth targets, better adapting to modern warfare in today's era of widespread drones.

Of course, the performance of the Weinan itself is not the focus of external attention. The true attraction of this ship lies in being one of the five ships under simultaneous construction in the famous "Dalian Shipyard aerial photograph" that went viral online two years ago.

The topic of "Dalian Shipyard" became popular because quite a few people on the internet still regard today's United States as the world's largest industrial power during World War II, believing that the U.S. Navy chooses not to build more destroyers due to unwillingness rather than inability.

[Simultaneous Construction of Five 052D Destroyers at Dalian Shipyard]

Therefore, when this aerial photo was captioned as "Five Burke-class DDG-3 destroyers under simultaneous construction at the U.S. Dalian Shipyard," many uninformed individuals mistakenly identified the Dalian Shipyard photo as the U.S. "Dalian" Shipyard and used it to hype up American shipbuilding superiority over China.

Luckily, this Internet public opinion farce did not last long. Afterward, within a year, the five 052D destroyers began launching successively. Later, the Weinan made an appearance at the South China Sea assessment site.

Weinan is the "elder brother" among these five ships. If we take the Weinan as a benchmark for calculation, given that these five Type 052DM destroyers have all launched within a year, there is a high probability that the remaining four will also follow the Weinan into service within the next year.

[Diagram of Equipment on the Weinan]

It is worth noting that the Weinan is the 27th Type 052D destroyer in the Chinese Navy. If the People's Liberation Army can commission four more Type 052DMs this year, the total number of Type 052D destroyers will reach 31.

What does this mean? The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer has been in service since 1991, with a total of six sub-models (1, 1A, 2, 2A, 2A Tech Enhanced, and 3), amounting to 74 vessels. Among them, the most numerous, the 2A type, which serves as the absolute mainstay of the U.S. Navy's surface fleet, only has 37 vessels.

In addition, due to the large time span of the construction of the Burke-class destroyers, only 16 out of the total 74 Burkes are newly built after 2010, while the rest are old vessels with over 15 years of service.

In other words, if counted solely by quantity, the Type 052D is already close to parity with the Burke 2 class.

[First Burke-class Destroyer DDG-51 Burke]

Technically speaking, the Burke-class destroyer, which is on par with the Type 052D destroyer that entered service in 2014, only has 16 units even considering the technology level as of 2014. If we raise the timeline to post-2014, this number further decreases to 12, as DDG-109 to DDG-112 were completed and commissioned between 2010 and 2012.

Don't forget that the Chinese Navy doesn't have just one model of "Aegis destroyer." There are also six Type 052C and eight Type 055 destroyers. Adding these ships together with the potential four Type 052DMs to be commissioned, the total number of shielded vessels in the Chinese Navy will soar to 45, narrowing the gap with the 74 Burkes to 29 vessels.

This number is very embarrassing for the U.S. Navy because the 28 Burke 1, 1A, and 2 types built before 2000 will need to be considered for retirement after their 35-year design life expectancy. By 2030, they will all be approaching retirement age.

[PLA Type 052D Destroyer Guiyang]

Even the newest Burke 2 destroyer, DDG-78 Porter, will retire in 10 years' time in 2035. Assuming neither the U.S. nor Chinese navies build any new destroyers from now on, the U.S. Navy will have one less destroyer than China in 10 years.

It should be noted that this comparison method is the most favorable to the U.S. Navy. If we compare the rate of new ship production, the Chinese Navy has a greater advantage.

The annual average number of Type 052D destroyers launched is three per year, while the Burke class is only 1.5 per year. Even maintaining this production capacity level is challenging for the U.S. Many experts warn that if the shipbuilding industry isn't saved, production could fall to one ship or fewer per year in the near future.

Don't forget about the Type 055 destroyers, which can launch around 1.5 per year. Therefore, the ratio of destroyer increments between the Chinese and U.S. navies is not 3:1.5 but 4.5:1.5, which is already three times that of the U.S.

[Type 055 Destroyer Underway]

Under these circumstances, it is only a matter of time before the Chinese Navy surpasses the U.S. Navy in terms of destroyer numbers, which is not surprising.

It is worth mentioning that open-source intelligence indicates that while the fourth batch of Type 052D destroyers is being constructed, the second batch of Type 055 heavy destroyers has already begun sea trials since last year.

[Reportedly Sea-Trialing 9th Type 055 Destroyer]

This means that besides the five Type 052DM destroyers led by the Weinan, the Chinese Navy is expected to commission one to two Type 055 heavy destroyers this year.

The U.S. Navy's 74 Burke-class destroyers must undertake global deployment missions. Burke-class vessels in the Indo-Pacific region do not even make up half, and those active in the Western Pacific are even fewer.

As the number of shielded vessels in the Chinese Navy increases to 48-49, the U.S. Navy will face not only the issue of China catching up in aircraft carrier mobile forces but also the possibility of being surpassed in common surface vessel forces. For the U.S. Navy, the transfer of control over maritime dominance in the Western Pacific is just a matter of a symbolic event.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7493047573923414540/

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