Type 052D destroyer

The Type 052D destroyer is a class of guided missile destroyer s being deployed by the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy.

After the Type 052C destroyer (NATO code name Luyang II class, or Lanzhou class after the lead ship), two new hulls were spotted under construction at Changxingdao-Jiangnan Shipyard (JNCX) in August 2012. According to the picture, they were armed with a new 130mm main gun and new Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar system. Altogether four vessels of this class are now fitting out or under construction, with a further four on order or planned.

Design
The layout of the Type 052D is similar to the earlier Type 052C, but the superstructure of the Type 052D slopes inward at a greater angle, providing superior stealth. The helicopter hangar on the Type 052D is moved to the center, as opposed to being on the left like on the Type 052C. A pair of enclosed boat/raft launching systems similar to that of the Type 054A frigate is added, with one on each side of the helicopter hangar. The Type 517HA VHF radar mast is moved toward the stern of the ship. There are several mounting sites for a new single barrel 30 mm stealthy gun mount that is fully automated. The addition of this small caliber weapon is presumably for the need to counter non-conventional threats such as potential terrorist attacks and anti-piracy operations, but as of the end of 2012, no 30mm gun mounts have been observed to be installed on the hull yet.

Due to the greater angle of superstructure slope, more space was made available for the active phased array radar (APAR), which first appeared in June 2012 onboard PLAN experimental ship Bi Sheng. It is believed that this new APAR is a development of earlier ones mounted on the Type 052C. One of the main differences is that the size of the new array is larger, so presumably there are more transceivers on each array. Another obvious difference is that the curvature resulted in the need for air circulation on earlier APAR on Type 052C is gone, so it is believed that the new APAR on Type 052D must have adopted a pure liquid cooling system instead of the mixed air and liquid cooling system on earlier APAR on board Type 052C.

Vertical Launching System
The Type 052D has a brand new vertical launching system (VLS) for surface-to-air missiles, cruise missiles, anti-submarine missiles, and anti-ship missiles, and is capable of quad-packing missiles and cold launch; it is the third type of Chinese VLS system identified, after the circular version of VLS on Type 052C destroyer and the rectangular version on Type 054A frigate. The VLS system on Type 052D differs from that on Type 052C. The circular-shaped VLS system on Type 052C is replaced by the VLS with rectangular cells on Type 052D. Moreover, this western-like VLS looks different to the VLS system of Type 054A. Photo shows that Type 052D's VLS system dose not contain the shared exhaust vents between the rows of lunching tubes, which is the common feature of Type 054A's VLS system. Instead, the VLS on Type 052D looks more similar to the American Mk 41 VLS, but without obvious indication of exhausts. The lack of exhaust vents in the leak photos leads to some Chinese internet forums postulating the cold launch method is adopted on Type 052D, but such claims cannot be confirmed by independent or official sources.

There are many other Chinese internet forums claiming that the difference between the VLS on Type 052D and VLS on Type 054A is simply a rearrangement of exhaust to a different location and Type 052D is still utilizing the hot launch method like Type 054A, but used a more advanced method of concentric canister launch (CCL) system (同心筒式垂直发射系统), first pioneered by USA in the mid-1990 for Mk 41 VLS upgrade. This second claim appears more probable than the cold launch claims, because official Chinese sources have confirmed the existence of CCL VLS developmental program headed by the School of Mechatronics Engineering of Beijing Institute of Technology, and various research papers have been publicized, such as the effect of the flow mechanism and annular size of CCL and others. It's reported that chief designers of Chinese CCL VLS included Professor Yuan Zenfeng (袁曾凤), Professor Miao Peiyun (苗佩云) and professor Liang Shijie (梁世杰). When using CCL method, the flame produced in hot launch is diverted through the space between the inner and outer canisters within each individual VLS cell, so no specially dedicated exhaust shared by several cells are needed, thus similar to how British vertical launched (VL) Sea Wolf missile operates, and this is why CCL VLS can be mistaken for cold launch due to the lack of dedicated exhaust sandwiched between two rolls of cells in traditional VLS, while in reality, the exhaust of CCL VLS is within each individual cell.

What is also confirmed by semi-official sources in China is that the VLS on Type 052D is built to GJB 5860-2006 standard (GJB = Guo-jia Jun-yong Biao-zhun, 国家军用标准, "National Military Standard"), so that different types of missiles can be launched by a single launching system. According to some of the publicized examples of GJB 5860-2006 requirement, there are 3 types of VLS that differs in length: 9 meter, 7 meter and 3.3 meter respectively (section 5.1.3), but the diameter is same for all, 850 mm maximum (section 6.1.2), with each launching tube filled with either dry air or nitrogen inside (section 6.1.4), and with higher internal pressure. (section 6.1.4). Similar to U.S. Navy's MK 41, a launching module includes 8 launching tubes (section 5.2.4), and each tube can house 1~4 missiles (section 5.2.4). Each launching model has a launching control unit (section 5.3.7), which can simultaneously launch up to 4 missiles of different kind (section 5.3.6). The launching control unit must have build-in test/diagnostic function (section 5.3.8). These publicized portions of GJB 5860-2006 are surprisingly similar to that of Mk 41 VLS, which prompt some Chinese internet sources to claim that there are potential future export of such system so that it has to comply to Mk 41 VLS, the most widely used VLS in the world.

Naval Gun
Another improvement of Type 052D is that the original Type H/PJ87 100 mm gun on the Type 052C is replaced by a new single barrel 130 mm gun, designated as the H/PJ38. Designed by the Zhengzhou Mechanical-Electrical Engineering Research Institute (郑州机电工程研究所, also known as the 713th Research Institute of the 7th Academy) and manufactured by Inner Mongolia 2nd Machinery Manufacturing Factory (内蒙第二机械制造厂), the H/PJ-38 130 mm naval gun was developed from reverse engineering of Soviet AK-130 twin 130 mm naval gun, which was carried out by the same two establishments. The general designer of H/PJ-38, Chen Dingfeng (陈汀峰), was also the general designer of all models of Type 79 100 mm naval gun, all models of Type 210 100 mm naval gun, and H/PJ26 76 mm naval gun. Chen was recalled from retirement to complete the H/PJ38 single barrel 130 mm naval gun. When the Soviet AK-130 was first successfully copied by Chinese developers, the Chinese navy was unsatisfied and decided not to let the AK-130 into production, despite all performance parameters being met. Because the AK-130 was judged out-of-date by the Chinese Navy, the H/PJ38 program was thus born in 2005. The H/PJ38 130 mm single barrel naval gun is considered more powerful and more reliable than other smaller caliber naval guns currently in Chinese service, and as with all other naval guns on most warships, it is installed in front of the VLS.

The general designer of munitions for H/PJ38, Zhou Bingwu (周炳武), entered the business in 1997 and almost lost his index finger of his right hand in Nov 2007 during an important trial. As early as 1987, Zhou had proposed multiple kinds of PGMs to be fired by a single caliber gun mount, but due to the backwardness of Chinese technological base and industrial capability, it was not until two decades later when it finally became a reality. Research led to the development of a single barreled 70 caliber, 130 mm system which took more than four years to complete after it first started, and H/PJ38 went to series production soon after that. The primary improvement of H/PJ38 over AK-130 is its adaptability: H/PJ38 can fire both the separate loading rounds and semi-fixed rounds, which is crucial in firing gun-launched missiles and precision-guided munitions (PGM). H/PJ38 can also fire a variety of sub-caliber rounds, but more importantly, a variety of PGMs were developed for H/PJ38 to increase its effectiveness.

Data Link
Various Chinese internet sources have claimed that Type 052D is equipped with a newest Chinese data link which has just completed national certification in Jun 2012 and publicized by the end of year. Designated as JSIDLS (Joint Service Integrated Data Link System, 全军综合数据链系统), this is the Chinese equivalent of Link 16, a significant improvement of earlier HN-900 which is the Chinese equivalent of Link 11/TADIL-A installed on Type 052C. The general designer of JSIDLS is Major General Wang Jianxi (王建新), who was the also head of the research institute of the People's Liberation Army General Staff Department assigned as primary contractor of JSIDLS. More than 300 establishments and 8000 people were involved in the development of JSIDLS, and it won State Science and Technology Prizes after completion.

Chinese "Aegis"
Chinese military, diplomatic, and media circles informally designate the Type 052D as "Zhonghuashendun / 中华神盾 Aegis". The new destroyer is equipped with a flat-array AESA radar, a 64-cell VLS and modern long-range anti-air missiles. The destroyer is expected to have capabilities approaching those of a US Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.