Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Zhonghuashendun: Chinese "Aegis" Destroyers

 All 12 hulls of the Type 052Ds are intended to induct in the PLAN Fleets are as below listed:
Ships of Class (Type 052D)

Chinese media informally designate the Type 052D as "Zhonghuashendun / 中华神盾" which means "Chinese Aegis". The new destroyer is equipped with a flat-array AESA radar, a 64-cell VLS and modern long-range anti-air missiles. The destroyer is expected to have capabilities similar to those of a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. 
There is speculation that the radar systems on Type 052D destroyers are able to detect stealth fighter aircraft, particularly the American F-35 Lightning II. Russian sources claim the ship's AESA radar can detect, track, and launch weapons against the F-35 at a range of 350 km (220 mi; 190 nmi). The range may be exaggerated, given the ship's HQ-9B SAMs have an estimated effective range of only 200 km (120 mi; 110 nmi), but it may be capable of detecting the F-35 if the Type 346 radar is an S-band radar like the American SPY-1 radar. 
Tactical stealth fighters are optimized to be undetectable from higher-frequency radar bands such the C, X, and Ku, but features like the tail-fin may make it susceptible to lower S or L-band frequencies. Even so, much depends on the distance between the ship and aircraft and the strength of the return of the omni-directional signal, meaning a target may not be picked up at a tactically significant distance. L-band and most S-bands have resolution cells that cannot generate quality targets for weapons tracking, even if it is detected. 
However, the SPY-1 and Air and Missile Defense Radar operate in higher frequency portions of the S-band and are able to generate weapons quality tracks, so Chinese systems could be similar. China is also suspected to be reducing the size of the large radar resolution cells by connecting multiple low-frequency radars through high-speed data-networks, which has the potential to refine resolution enough for tracking a missile to the target

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