On the modern maritime battlefield, the role played by shipboard radar is getting bigger and bigger, and shipborne multi-function phased array radar is currently its main development direction. Obviously, after the development of the AN/SPY-1A phased array radar and the formation of the later "Aegis" system, the US Navy's "maritime hegemony" has been more sufficient. However, it is worth noting that china's navy did not have such an advanced radar in the same period, and in addition, Japan and south Korea accepted assistance from the United States, so how to develop a phased array radar with advanced performance has become an urgent problem that our military needs to solve.
Fortunately, the effort paid off, and the Nanjing Fourteenth Institute with the 346-type "Sea Star" radar made up for the gap in China's phased array radar. At the same time, because this radar uses an active phased array radar, it is a generation ahead of the radar used in the Aegis system established by the US Navy, after all, the total power of a single-sided array can be comparable to the BURKE-class radar of the US Navy. However, it is worth mentioning that today's 346 "Sea Star" has evolved the 346 sea-based version, 346A, and 346B.
If you know about the Zhuhai Airshow 5 years ago, you will certainly not be unfamiliar with the 346A active phased array radar, after all, as China's new generation of "China Aegis", it can significantly improve the combat effectiveness of the whole ship. Perhaps in this way, everyone feels a bit general, so we can look at the performance of the combat power of the Type 052C destroyer after loading the Type 346 radar and the Type 052D destroyer loading the Type 346A radar.
In general, the Type 346 radar is only an important part of the Type 052C destroyer, and this hull and power are the center of the 052C. But after the Type 346A, the situation began to change slightly, because the center of the 052D became a combat system. Specifically, the difference between the Type 346 and the Type 346A is mainly due to four points: first, the shape of the ship's building has more inclination, and the arc on the outer cover has been changed to a plane; second, the large area has increased the two large sizes; third, the installation position of the four radar arrays has been raised; fourth, the C-band missile response antenna has been expanded, and the size of the S-band array has been increased.
Let's first look at the first point, the purpose of increasing the inclination angle is to reduce the side radar reflection section of the Type 052D destroyer, and to reserve the installation of the 346A radar. At the same time, in order to adapt to the liquid cooling equipment that can better solve the heat dissipation problem after the upgrade, the radar cover of the 052D type is changed to a plane, of course, the design style of the 052D type destroyer itself is partially stealthy, and the change in the shape of the cover can just match this style.
Secondly, looking at the second point, I think everyone knows that most of the active phased array radars we developed are rectangular, but in order to increase the effective working area, the shape of the 346A type has almost become square. Not only that, the number of core components T/R installed has also increased, and in this way, its detection distance, detection number and other data are also rising. This is followed by the third point, which is corrected because the position layout of the four radars of the Type 052C will block some of the signals, which is to make the detection of low-altitude targets affected.
As for the last point, the S-band main front fusion C-band is unique to China, and the four-sided shield formed by this can provide long-range guidance for the missile, but in the setting of the 346-type radar, the C-band missile response antenna will be limited to a certain extent. By increasing the S-segment and moving the C-segment to the outside of Cambridge, not only can the Type 346A radar guide multiple missiles at the same time, but also promote the vertical launch of the 052D type to add 16 vertical units on the basis of the 052C type, that is, a total of 64 vertical units.
Therefore, from a comprehensive point of view, the improvement of the Type 346A radar has made up for many defects in the Type 346 radar, and the comprehensive combat strength has also been comprehensively and significantly improved. However, clear-eyed people can see that whether it is the 346 type or the 346A type, it is not inferior to the "Aegis" of the US Navy in terms of combat capability. As the saying goes, there is no way to go thousands of miles without accumulating steps, and the development of the 346A radar is also the same reason, so we can also believe that the future "China Aegis" 346 radar will become more versions according to the different operational needs of our country.