052C/052D Class Destroyers
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
China’s Type 052D destroyer gets upgraded propulsion system
By Published: Jan 11, 2023 10:40 PM
China's independently developed Type 052D destroyer has reportedly received an upgraded propulsion system, a move analysts said on Wednesday is a normal progression with the technological development and the continued production of ships of this class.
The 43rd escort task force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy set out on Tuesday from a naval port in Zhanjiang, South China's Guangdong Province for the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somali to succeed the mission of the 42nd escort task force, the PLA Navy said in a statement on the day.
The flotilla is composed of the Type 052D guided missile destroyer Nanning, the Type 054A guided missile frigate Sanya, and the Type 903 comprehensive supply ship Weishanhu, with two helicopters and dozens of special operation soldiers among a total of more than 700 sailors on board, according to the statement attached with photos.
It is the first time the Nanning will join an escort mission, the PLA Navy said.
The Nanning, a destroyer independently developed by China, received an upgraded propulsion system among many other modifications, the PLA Navy statement reads.
Since its commissioning, the Nanning has joined dozens of major exercise missions including far sea training and combat alert patrols, during which it conducted live-fire missile launches several times, the PLA Navy revealed.
The Nanning in an exercise in the South China Sea, and judging from its appearance, it is an upgraded variation of the Type 052D destroyer with an extended helicopter flight deck to host the newly developed Z-20 utility helicopter and a new anti-stealth radar to counter stealth aircraft, media reported at the time.
As the PLA Navy's main type of surface combatant, the Type 052D destroyer has been constructed and commissioned in large numbers, a Chinese military expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Wednesday.
During the decade-long production of Type 052Ds, it is quite normal that new technologies are implemented in newer ships, the expert said. "The Type 052D will become more powerful with these new technologies and experiences previous ships have gathered."
According to publicly available information and media reports, the first Type 052D, the Kunming, was commissioned in 2014, and 25 have been launched since. Additional hulls were spotted under construction in August 2022.
The Type 052D is very reliable and uses mature technologies, making it suitable for mass production, Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military expert, told the Global Times in a previous interview.
China also displayed the export version of Type 052DE destroyer at .
It annoyed me to no end every time I saw these "independently developed" labels from Chinese writing. It is as if they write them with enormous pride, as if this is some special quality that worth emphasizing. Like, the object, in this case 052D, is something exceptional and a stands-out among Chinese destroyers, etc.
Oh, don't get me started. "Independently developed", "homegrown", etc. That they have to keep emphasizing these things reveals an internalized sense of inferiority. But there are more issues than just that, like calling the Type 052D "China's Type 052D" like people need to be reminded what country the ship belongs to. No, everybody knows the Type 052D and 055 by now and they should just be referred to without any qualifiers.
I've also noticed that CGTN and GT refer to Xi as "Chinese President Xi Jinping" which is another facepalm. He's "President Xi Jinping"; when the proper noun "President" is used by the Chinese press, the country shouldn't be referenced to implicitly elevate his stature. The sentence should be something like "President Xi Jinping met with US leader Joe Biden bla bla bla."
Chinese journalists really have a lot to learn.
Same here. Old habits die hard. The in-system (体制内) PR machine is still mired in the old propaganda mold. Many people inside have been complaining about it. The progress is snail-walking.
What was the propulsion upgrade?
Am I missing something here, I read the whole article and there was no explanation.
It might be saying 052DL had an upgrade?