Recently, Hong Kong media exposed the latest aerial photography scene in Dalian Shipyard, showing that five 052DL large drive docks were built last year, but unlike last year's five ships built in the dock at the same time, two 052DL large drives have been launched outfitting, it is said that the launching test has been completed in March this year, and after further outfitting and sea trial testing of the ship, it is expected to join the naval force in early 2025.
The first three ships are in a state of segmented closure
The remaining 3 052DL large drives in the dock are in the stage of segmented closing, and the ship part has been roughly formed, but the superstructure, such as ship islands, naval guns, vertical hair and other units have not yet been installed, and it is expected that the fastest launch will be 2024.
052D series drive is currently the main destroyer equipment of the Chinese Navy, after all, with the modernization and development of our military, the demand for this general-purpose large shield ship is very urgent, 052D for the navy is a very powerful combat capability "all-rounder", compared with the previous type can only carry out regional air defense of the 052C large drive, 052D large drive can do more, can attack surface ships, regional air defense, etc. alone or in coordination with other forces of the Navy, sea combat capabilities are strong, but also have the ability to strike on the ground. It is the most powerful surface combat ship in addition to aircraft carriers and 055, and compared with 055 large drives, it has the advantage of low cost of ownership and can be built quickly in large quantities.
From the beginning of the 2010s, the construction of the lead ship began to June 2022, the PLA built a total of three batches of 052D series large drives in 12 years, the first two batches built 13 ships, and in the design and production of the third batch, the 052D was overhauled, the third batch of 052D is called 052DL is mainly to optimize the hangar design and lengthen the length of the rear deck of the ship, the tonnage of the ship is increased to 7800 tons, mainly to accommodate Haizhi 20F anti-submarine helicopters, This helicopter will replace the outdated Straight 9C carrier-based helicopter, which will further enhance the 052DL's anti-submarine capabilities against U.S. and Japanese submarines. The 052DL has also been greatly upgraded in electronic equipment, updated the data link, and updated the 71H A-band 2D long-range air-to-air surveillance radar, which is the "fly swatter" in the middle of the ship, which is clearly different from the traditional radar, it is a meter-wave radar, and the detection range is very far.
This radar is mainly used to detect enemy stealth aircraft, and it is said that it is aimed at similar stealth fighters of the F-22, which can detect a range of more than 150 kilometers and has strong anti-stealth capabilities. After all, modern fighters have entered the era of stealth, and the United States, Japan and South Korea have deployed a large number of stealth fighters, so ship anti-stealth operations are particularly important, which is also the focus of the PLA Navy.
The third batch of 052DL large drives was built 12 at one time, and the last one was commissioned in June 2022, followed by the fourth batch of 052DL large drive construction, including the aforementioned 5 052DL large drives built and outfitted at the Dalian Shipyard, and according to US media reports, in addition to Dalian Shipyard's Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, there are also 5 052DL large drives under construction, and this shipyard has also begun the construction of a new batch of 055 large drives. That is to say, it can be determined that the fourth batch of 052DL large drives has a total of 10 ships under construction, and it is expected that all of them will enter service with the PLA around 2027. Then in the future, the PLA will have 13+12+10=35 052D series large drives, and on average, at least 10 or so 052DL large drives can be allocated in each naval theater. It can be seen that in the 2020s, it is still at the peak of the loading of ships in the entire Navy.
The total number of 052D Series large drives built is likely to exceed 40 ships in the end
So, has the 052DL series of large drives equipped by our army already met the new needs of the PLA? Will the fifth batch of 052DL drives be built after the construction of the fourth batch is completed? It can be said that at present, the Navy does not look at 50 destroyers, but after deducting 25 052DL in active service, 8 055 large drives, and 6 052C such genuine shield ships, there are 11 ships such as 051C, 051B, and 052B, which will also be gradually retired from service. These advanced destroyers also have to undertake the main defense tasks of our army's various aircraft carrier battle groups and amphibious strike groups, and now our army already has three aircraft carriers and three amphibious assault ships, and it is expected that by 2030, the total number of our aircraft carriers will reach 5, and the amphibious assault ships will reach the scale of 7-9 ships, and there will undoubtedly be more advanced destroyers.
In addition, our navy also needs to face the challenges and blockade of a series of countries such as the United States, Japan, South Korea and Australia, the United States is accelerating the construction of Burke 3, DDG (X) large drive and constellation frigates, South Korea and Japan have also launched a new naval ship expansion plan, so the number of destroyers of our military needs to be combined with reality can only be more, not less, from the actual needs of the navy and the tasks facing all aspects, the construction of the fourth batch of 052 series large drives should actually be a natural fit.