In the past two days, the news that China has begun to export 052D destroyers has attracted the attention of the global military community. In fact, the news that China wants to export 052D is not particularly new news, as early as last year's Zhuhai air show, the mainland announced the domestic large-diameter vertical hair unit, as well as supporting multi-model vertical missiles, forming a complete set of weapon systems for export foreign trade version, CCTV also released the 052D foreign trade destroyer CG model at the same time. These news added up to the summary, at that time, some people felt that the export of the mainland 052D destroyer was already a sure thing, and the first customer who ate crabs came out to confirm that the transaction was successful. At the just-opened Abu Dhabi Defense Exhibition, the news of the official launch of the foreign trade version of 052D was finally officially announced.
First of all, the mainland navy 052D Nanning ship participated in the joint military exercise in Pakistan, and immediately after the exercise, it left for Abu Dhabi to participate in the exhibition, and opened the ship to visit and display. At the same time, the indoor display of the Chinese military industry in the Abu Dhabi Defense Exhibition also put up an equal-scale model of the 052D drive, as well as supporting propaganda CG. Simply put, the customer looks at the model and feels satisfied, want to know more, then go directly to the port to visit the active 052D Nanning ship, China as a seller one-stop intimate service to home, not afraid of customer dissatisfaction and praise. On the other hand, such a high-specification force export project is still rare in the past foreign trade products of the army industry, and it also shows the importance that China's military industry attaches to the export of 052D large drive this time.
So the question is, since we attach so much importance to this export project, we have driven the real guys over for on-site visits. So are there potential customers with a high probability of buying? Specifically, are there multiple leads? These two problems are not only concerned by domestic military fans, but also military experts on the side of our friendly neighbor Russia. An analysis article published in the Russian defense magazine "Military Review" said that in terms of the current market situation and international situation, there are two potential customers for China's 052D destroyer: one is China's old customer for foreign trade arms exports: the North African country Algeria. Now Algeria is a big customer of the local tycoons, because of the soaring global oil prices caused by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in 2022, Algeria, as an oil exporter, has made a lot of money. In response to the threat posed by NATO, Algeria has decided to significantly increase defense spending, which is known to have doubled in Algeria's military procurement plan.
What weapons will be used to buy this double amount of military procurement spending, there is no clear plan for now. However, external analysts generally believe that Algeria, as an old customer of Chinese weapons, has successively purchased PLZ-45 self-propelled guns, Wing Loong-2 UAVs, SR-5 long-range rocket artillery, and YJ-12 supersonic heavy anti-ship missiles and other advanced weapons in recent years. In Africa, where the overall military strength is not strong and there are not many powerful competitors, these advanced Chinese weapons have greatly enhanced Algeria's national defense strength and has entered the ranks of African military powers. Algeria is now preparing to build a powerful navy targeting large integrated surface warfare ships with regional air defense and long-range anti-ship capabilities. Considering that Algeria's other arms buyer, that is, Russia's shipbuilding industry and surface ship development level is really not comparable, Algeria's best choice is the 052D foreign trade destroyer just launched by the Chinese military industry.
Once Algeria acquires such an advanced large capital ship, it will undoubtedly have an absolute advantage over any potential rival it may face, even the capital ships of European navies. After all, the current European navy has long been not the glorious era when the sun never sets, France, and Germany, and it is necessary to build a destroyer of seven or eight thousand tons, and the result is that the firepower and comprehensive combat power are about equal to the frigates built by China. When encountering a main destroyer like 052D, which is itself a heavy weapons design, the destroyers of the European Navy really have to go a little to the side, not to mention the naval ships of other African countries, which is simply not enough to see in front of 052D.
In addition to Algeria, another potential customer who may buy the 052D is also familiar to everyone: northern neighbor Russia. Russian military experts who wrote the article believe that since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Navy has not added any new large surface combat ships, and has lost the ability to build large warships. Now within the Russian Navy, the call for new large surface combat ships is getting louder, and even senior Russian officials have said that aircraft carriers should be purchased from China. Russian experts believe that in the long run, Russia needs to restore its capacity to build large warships that have been broken due to the collapse of the Soviet Union, but this will take time, and the Russian Navy's dilapidated classic ships cannot afford to wait. So until Russia resumes its ability to build large warships, purchasing 052D destroyers from China is a transitional option and expedient measure, at least to solve the Russian Navy's urgent need for only small ships to use at the moment.
Of course, considering the needs and practical factors of the development of the Russian army, as well as the fact that the friendly relations between China and Russia are at an all-time high, there is a lot of potential for cooperation. Russian experts believe that the Russian Navy can put forward requirements to the Chinese military industry to build a type of "deeply customized Russian version 052D" that has the data link, informatization and automated command mode of the Russian Navy, and can be compatible with launching Russian-made missiles. In addition, the performance of China's sensors and electronic products far exceeds that of Russia, which can greatly improve the comprehensive combat performance of ships, and the final actual construction of the "Russian version of 052D" will definitely satisfy the Russian Navy. And with the speed of China's shipbuilding, as long as the money can be in place, the Russian Navy will be able to get the "Russian version 052D" in a very short time that is quantitatively enough to form a destroyer detachment. Not only has the combat strength been qualitatively enhanced, but the cost of use and maintenance of Chinese warships is much stronger than that of Soviet warships that are old and need to be repaired and repaired all day. From the current point of view, the cost of buying a warship may be a bit high, but if you look at the life cycle cost of a warship, it saves the Russian Navy a lot of money.
Indeed, it must be said that the analysis of Russian experts has its point, and the Russian Navy really needs large surface combat ships like the 052D. However, whether it is Algeria or Russia, there is demand for demand, warships are better for warships, and in the end, whether to buy or not involves many complicated factors. So in the end, which country will purchase 052D first and eat crabs first, it remains to be seen.