China's 052D may be discontinued, but what drives the US military crazy is that the PLA's 9,000-ton warship will take over!

Since the launch of the first ship Kunming (172) in 2012, China's Type 052D destroyers have built about 35 ships in 13 years, with continuous upgrades across four batches.

These upgrades include: the second batch replaced with new close-in weapon systems, and the third batch added with long-range early warning radar and extended helicopter deck to accommodate Zhi-20.

The core of the 052D weapons system is the 850mm large-caliber universal vertical launching system (VLS). Not only is it large in size, but more importantly, it adopts a "cold-hot compatible" design, which has extremely strong compatibility. This means it can flexibly load and quickly fire Haihong-9B long-range air defense missiles, Yingji-18 subsonic and supersonic combined anti-ship cruise missiles, Yu-8 rocket-assisted torpedoes (anti-submarine missiles), and even reserve space for future integration of land-attack cruise missiles or hypersonic weapons. A high-rate-of-fire, high-precision 130mm single-barrel main gun (H/PJ-45A) provides powerful naval and shore firepower support, while the upgraded 1130 close-in weapon system and Hongqi-10 short-range air defense missiles form a tight end-game defense network. It can be said that our 052D combat capability has already surpassed that of the US-made "Arleigh Burke III" destroyer.

However, according to foreign media reports, after completing the fourth batch of construction, the 052D series may be discontinued, and China may shift to mass-producing a new generation of large destroyers weighing around 9,000 tons.

The foreign media reports also make some sense. Although our 052D is advanced enough, its overly long and narrow hull design (tending to be "slender") results in insufficient stability during long-distance voyages. This design stems from the early limitation of domestic gas turbine power, where a slender hull helps reduce navigation resistance.

Meanwhile, although the 850mm launcher on the 052D is highly capable, it is limited by the hull size and can only accommodate 64 units. Even so, its total vertical launching area and radar array size are significantly larger than those of "Arleigh Burke IIA," leading to near saturation of hull space utilization. The fourth batch of 052D shows that the platform's performance potential has been fully exploited.

With China's navy having solved the problem of propulsion "heart," significant development has occurred in the domestic marine gas turbine industry, with new models achieving output powers of 40MW and 50MW. These provide the foundation and assurance for developing larger tonnage vessels.

In addition, with the continuous development of our aircraft carrier force, our future demand for long-distance missions will grow rapidly. After all, our navy must move towards the ocean to better safeguard our global interests. Therefore, it is necessary to "fatten up" the 052D and develop larger-tonnage "new general-purpose destroyers."

It is expected that the new 9,000-ton-class vessel will provide approximately 80 vertical launching cells. After meeting basic configurations (such as 8 anti-ship missiles, 8 anti-submarine missiles, and 48 air defense missiles), there will still be 16 cells left, providing space for new weapons such as hypersonic missiles. Moreover, the new ship will achieve comprehensive upgrades in terms of stealth performance, information systems, and radar performance.

Some netizens may ask why not build more 055 large destroyers. Because the positioning of 055 and 052D is different, and the cost of 055 is much higher.

Of course, even if a 9,000-ton new general-purpose destroyer does exist, its large-scale production will need to wait for a more mature time: after all the second batch of 055 destroyers are fully operational and China's aircraft carrier fleet increases to 4-5 ships (including nuclear-powered carriers).

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1835191544324228/

Disclaimer: The article represents the author's personal views.