Type 052 destroyer

The Type 052 Luhu-class is one of the first modern multi-role missile-equipped destroyer built by China. It is one of the most advanced in PLAN's inventory. There are currently two units in active service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) with no plans of further construction of additional units.

History

Designed by the China Warship Design Institute (formerly the Seventh Academy of the Ministry of National Defense), the ships were built at Jiangnan Shipyard. No.112 "Harbin" was the first Luhu destroyer followed by No.113 "Qingdao". The chief designer is academician Mr. Pan Jingfu (潘镜芙). The class is said to be the first indigenous Chinese warship design approaching modern standards, a significant improvement over the earlier Luda class. The Luhu made extensive use of foreign technologies that were accessible to the PRC prior to the Tiananmen Square incident of 1989. These included French-made radars and fire-control systems and the GE LM2500 gas turbine engines from the U.S., two of which power each ship.

Even with incorporation of Western technology, the chronic lack of adequate ship-borne air defense system have had great impact on the PLAN operations. Equipped with a small number of surface-to-air missiles with visual-range only, and guns with limited range and performance, Chinese warships had historically limited their operations within the area covered by their land-based aircraft due to a lack of fleet defense capability. To rectify this trend, the Luhu destroyers (and the smaller Jiangwei class frigate) were fitted with the HQ-7 SAM that gives it much better air defense capability than any other previous Chinese design, though still limited to within visual range (WVR).

The HQ-7 SAM system is reported to be equipped with 8 ready to fire missiles, plus 16 stored in a semi-automatic reloader system. The same system is also used on the upgraded 051G Luda Destroyer.

In spite of the advances, the 052 Luhu Destroyer still suffers in some areas such as electronic warfare and electronic counter-measures. The Chinese attempted to address these problems with the introduction of an improved Luhu design, the Luhai-class. This follow-on, essentially an enlarged Luhu, features improved electronics from foreign suppliers as well as more advanced weapons.

Ships in service

* 112 Harbin
* 113 Qingdao

Specifications (post-refit)

*Unit cost - > 1 billion renminbi yuan per ship by 1980's price
*Propulsion CODOG config
** 112 Harbin - 2 General Electric LM2500 gas-turbines, 55,000 hp (41 MW) + MTU Friedrichshafen 12V 1163TB83 diesel, 8,840 hp (6.5 MW)
** 113 Qingdao - 2 x Ukraine GT-25000 gas turbines, 48,600 hp (35.7 MW) + MTU Friedrichshafen 12V 1163TB83 diesel, 8,840 hp (6.5 MW)
*Length - 467.8 feet / 142.6 meter
*Beam - 49.5 feet / 15.3 meters
*Draft - 16.7 feet / 5 meters
*Displacement - 4,200 tons (standard), 4,800 tons (full load)
*Speed - 31 knots
*Endurance - 4,000 nm at 15 kt
*Crew - 260 (40 officers)
*C3I
** ZKJ-4B (development of Thomson-CSF TAVITAC information processing system, with reported speed of > 1 MPBS)
** 2 x Type 630 (GDG-775) optronic directors
** Data link: HN-900 (Chinese equivalent of Link 11A/B, to be upgraded)
** Communication: SNTI-240 SATCOM
* Radar/Sonar
** Thomson-CSF TSR 3004 (DRBV-15) Sea Tiger air/surface radar, E/F band (112 Harbin)
** Type 360S (SR60) air/surface radar, E/F band (113 Qingdao)
** Type 518 (REL-1/2) Hai Ying long-range 3D air search radar, L-band
** Type 362 (ESR-1) low-altitude air/surface search radar, I-band
** Type 345 (MR35) fire-control radar for HQ-7 Surface-to-air missile system, J-band
** Type 344 (MR34) fire-control for YJ-8x SSM and 100 mm gun, I/J band
** 2 x Type 347G (EFR-1) Rice Lamp fire-control radar for 37 mm AA guns, I-band
** 2 x Racal RM-1290 navigation radar, I-band
** DUBV-23 (SJD-8/9) medium-frequency hull-mounted radar
** DUBV-43 (ESS-1) towed medium-frequency VDS
*Armament
** 4 x quad YJ-83 (C-803) AShM box launchers
** 1 x 8-cell HQ-7 SAM with 8 ready to fire missiles + 16 spare missiles
** 1 x Type PJ-33A dual 100 mm/56 caliber gun
** 4 x Type 76A dual 37 mm AA guns
** 2 x triple 324 mm Yu-7 ASW torpedo tubes
** 2 x Type 75 (RBU-1200) 240 mm 12-tube ASW rocket launchers
** 2 x Type 946 15-barrel chaff/decoy launcher
* Helicopter
** 2 x Kamov Ka-27 'Helix' or Harbin Z-9C (licensed copy of the Eurocopter Dauphin)
*Designer:
**Design Institute: 701st Research Institute of China Warship Design Institute (the Seventh Academy of the Ministry of National Defense),
**General Designer: Mr. Pan Jingfu (潘镜芙, Jan 20, 1930－）,

External links

* [http://www.sinodefence.com/navy/surface/type052_luhu.asp Sino Defense Today]