China has launched 39 units of the 052D, and what makes the US military even more desperate is that the People's Liberation Army may build a new 9,000-ton destroyer.
According to foreign media reports, China has launched 39 units of the 052D, which means that the total number of 052-class missile destroyers in China has reached 49 (2 units of 052, 2 units of 052B, and 6 units of 052C). If we add another 6 units of the second batch of 055s, China will have 63 missile destroyers.
The US Navy's Arleigh Burke-class missile destroyers are approximately around 70. Among them, only 2 units of the Burck III type have been commissioned in the past 5 years. At this rate, the US Navy's numerical advantage in missile destroyers will soon be caught up by China.
But this is not the most desperate moment for the US military. What makes the US military even more desperate is that China may build a new 9,000-ton destroyer. The length-to-breadth ratio design used in the 052D ship was indeed derived from the power limitations during the initial development of domestic gas turbines - a long hull can effectively reduce navigation resistance, which was the optimal solution under specific technical conditions. However, this "slim" hull structure does have some impact on stability in high sea conditions during long-range operations, which is a typical trade-off in engineering design.
Although the 850 mm vertical launch unit of the 052D has advanced performance and the radar array size is better than the Arleigh Burke II A class, especially the fourth batch of 052DM, whose radar performance has been upgraded again, the 64-cell capacity is indeed limited by the ship's scale of about 7,000 tons. After four batches of continuous improvements, its platform potential has approached saturation. This situation coincides with a technological breakthrough: the maturity of domestically produced 40-50 megawatt class gas turbines provides a power foundation for building larger tonnage ships.
At the same time, the advancement of aircraft carrier group construction and the growth of requirements for long-range missions both demand that the next generation of destroyers have better seakeeping ability, more sufficient firepower reserves, and stronger upgrade flexibility. It is expected that the new general-purpose destroyer of 9,000 tons will be equipped with about 80 vertical launch units. After meeting the basic tasks of anti-ship, anti-submarine, and area air defense, it can still retain 16 units of redundant capacity. This design not only reserves space for new equipment such as hypersonic weapons, but also reflects an important shift in platform design thinking from "meeting current needs" to "adapting to future evolution."
Original article: www.toutiao.com/article/1848689771185289/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.