Chinese PLAN has launched the first Type 055 (Renhai) class DDG

[muttbutt]

3 more currently under construction

 

[muttbutt]

Sorry about the quality Chinese tv doesn't seem to do HD broadcasts..

 

[muttbutt]

 

[Sferrin]

That's a beauty. Certainly the cleanest short of the Zumwalts. Lots of radars. I wonder what those radars on top of the bridge are for. ??? And three or four more building?

 

[JFC Fuller]

this thing is covered in what look like flat panel antennae; in addition to the obvious ones arranged around the superstructure and the mast there are two (on facing fore and one aft) on each bridge wing, the collection of long-thin panels above the bridge and two large panels on each side of the superstructure fore and aft (you can see one clearly in the pictures above, its directly below the bridge wing).

 

[muttbutt]

That's a beauty. Certainly the cleanest short of the Zumwalts. Lots of radars. I wonder what those radars on top of the bridge are for. ??? And three or four more building?

3 more building that we know about..seems they (PLAN) want 12-14 at least.

 

[muttbutt]

this thing is covered in what look like flat panel antennae; in addition to the obvious ones arranged around the superstructure and the mast there are two (on facing fore and one aft) on each bridge wing, the collection of long-thin panels above the bridge and two large panels on each side of the superstructure fore and aft (you can see one clearly in the pictures above, its directly below the bridge wing).

Those have raised questions on Chinese forums too...no ones quite sure what if anything fancy they are for.

 

[lastdingo]

That's a beauty. Certainly the cleanest short of the Zumwalts. Lots of radars. I wonder what those radars on top of the bridge are for. ??? And three or four more building?

Remember the La Fayettes!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Fayette-class_frigate

 

[RP1]

I wonder what those radars on top of the bridge are for.

A thin horizontal array would produce a narrow but tall beam*, would it not? Horizon search, perhaps? Like the I-band on the i-mast?

* well, only steerable in azimuth anyway. Could still be multibeam (fixed) in elevation.

 

[Moose]

That's a beauty. Certainly the cleanest short of the Zumwalts. Lots of radars. I wonder what those radars on top of the bridge are for. ??? And three or four more building?

The big panels mounted low on the deckhouse are the latest version of their Volume Search Radar Type 346, the next size down (largest on the mast) are a new narrow-beam tracking/designating radar likely in X-band. The smaller panels are possible surface-search and short-range fire-control, or they're not radars.

 

[Trident]

My take on the sensors.

Although it is certainly possible that the blue arrays on the bridge are in fact SeaWatcher-type surface search radars - good call.

No idea on the huge (orange) things, they might not be radars at all (beam-only coverage, rather than 360° like the rest)? As for the clean look, it remains to be seen whether it is fully fitted out in that regard, although it does look fairly complete.

 

[Moose]

Don't know what the orange boxes are but they don't look like a radar-panel installation.

 

[Hood]

Lots of arrays, looks impressive but I wonder what the systems integration is like. It looks like a superior Burke, but looks aren't everything if the technical side is less impressive. The Baku looked impressive in 1987 with her Mars-Passat, so did Kuznestov, then it was found they were concrete dummies.
Still, they did build that full-scale radar mock-up shown elsewhere on this site, so the systems probably have been tested for some time.

 

[donnage99]

What a fearsome looking beast. And here on this side of the planet we stuck with the ever increasing cost of the mythical space defying logic flight III Burke and the oh so confused LCS. I say we go big or go home:

 

[flateric]

From Type 051 to 055

 

[donnage99]

http://www.navyrecognition.com/index.php/focus-analysis/naval-technology/5337-chinese-cruiser-or-destroyer-full-details-on-plan-s-first-type-055.html

If this is not heavily induced with propaganda and exaggeration, then hats off to China - an extremely technologically and industriously ambitious project at a reduced price than initial projection. Such a feat is the equivalence of unicorn in the west.

This is a scary thought. If they are just stealing our tech then we can say "when they reach parity then they'll plateau out" but IF they can make their own stuff based on their own research and development at the rate of production and speed comparable to the best in the west (4 concurrently built) - holysh*%$

 

[Sferrin]

http://www.navyrecognition.com/index.php/focus-analysis/naval-technology/5337-chinese-cruiser-or-destroyer-full-details-on-plan-s-first-type-055.html

If this is not heavily induced with propaganda and exaggeration, then hats off to China - an extremely technologically and industriously ambitious project at a reduced price than initial projection. Such a feat is the equivalence of unicorn in the west.

This is a scary thought. If they are just stealing our tech then we can say "when they reach parity then they'll plateau out" but IF they can make their own stuff based on their own research and development at the rate of production and speed comparable to the best in the west (4 concurrently built) - holysh*%$

In the meantime we can't even control costs on the Burkes. (When the hull we actually need is the Zumwalt. The US continues making the Keystone Cops look like Sun Tzu.)

 

[donnage99]

In the meantime we can't even control costs on the Burkes. (When the hull we actually need is the Zumwalt. The US continues making the Keystone Cops look like Sun Tzu.)

Yep. Not to mention the persistence of the navy on the original LCS, then switched to a more confusing up-gunned version, and then now want to scratch it for a newer requirements. Ahem, did I also mention the UCLASS? Add to that the industry's climate we have now on the private sector side - I'm depressed.

PS. The zumwalt development was actually a pretty successful one on controlling cost and schedule until production got cut down to 3 and changing requirements at the final stage.