Chinamil reported that the guided-missile destroyer Qiqihar attached to a destroyer flotilla with the navy under the People’s Liberation Army Navy Northern Theater Command fires its close-in weapons system during a maritime live-fire test on June 7, 2021. Super-speed target drones take off simultaneously from the guided-missile destroyer Qiqihar (Hull 121) during a maritime live-fire test conducted by a destroyer flotilla with the Navy Surface Force under the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy Northern Theater Command on June 7, 2021.
The 13th Type 052D Luyang III-class guided-missile destroyer, christened Qiqihar, is a multi-purpose warship and can be deployed against enemy aircraft, submarines, and also defend People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) formations such as China’s future carrier strike groups against missile attacks. Chinese media informally calls the Type 052D the Chinese Aegis, portraying it as a peer of contemporary United States Navy ships equipped with the Aegis Combat System. Overall, more than 18 Type 052D warships are expected to be commissioned in the coming year.
The Type 052D destroyer (NATO/OSD Luyang III-class destroyer) is a class of guided missile destroyers in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy Surface Force. The Type 052D is a larger variant of the Type 052C; the Type 052D uses a canister-type, instead of revolver-type, vertical launching system (VLS) and has flat-panelled active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. The new VLS is not limited to surface-to-air missiles, making the Type 052D China’s first dedicated multi-role destroyer.
Early units were completed with 7-barrelled Type 730 close-in weapon system (CIWS). This was replaced in later units by the larger 11-barrelled Type 1130 CIWS. The main gun is a 130 mm weapon. The Type 52D is the first Chinese surface combatant to use canister-based universal VLS. 64 cells are carried; 32 forward and 32 aft. The VLS is reportedly an implementation of the GJB 5860-2006 standard. The VLS may fire the extended-range variant of the HHQ-9 surface-to-air missile, YJ-18 anti-ship cruise missiles, and CY-5 anti-submarine missiles.
