052C/052D Class Destroyers

ismellcopium said:

Surely there have been precise measurements of the dimensions of 346, A & B after all these years. Anyone have an image?

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You can try Google earth tho at Yulin naval base. resolution is rather poor and there are image squeezed that could bias the measurement. For type 55 and 52, you may get 4.2-5.2 m panel size. This is kinda make things bit complicated. There is of course magazine scans provided generously here but still given the array is tilted it's kinda bit difficult to measure things.

sequ said:

Mk1 eyeball tells me so.

I really don't see the 346B being 40% larger than the 346A. 40% larger than the 346? Sure.

Compare pics between 052D and 055 and bear in mind the difference in beam is just 2 meters. They come out the same size.

I believe the major difference between the 3 variants are the following:

346: Early gen AESA
346A: Larger array 5x5m, better modules (still) GaAs
346B: Same size but newer and more powerful modules based on GaN

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My lowest estimate tho.. 346 and 346A are same aperture size in total. Except 346 have somehow larger TRM size due to cooling fins for air cooling. The 346A can get more space with elimination of cooling fins due to switch to liquid cooling thus more compact and allow better utilization of the space. While the B one could be larger overall as larger and newer ship.

Just comparing the ship's beam tho is not really good indicator.

sequ said:

I believe the major difference between the 3 variants are the following:

346: Early gen AESA
346A: Larger array 5x5m, better modules (still) GaAs
346B: Same size but newer and more powerful modules based on GaN

Click to expand...

The 346B using GaN would make sense given the Type-055 reportedly has 30MW of electrical power, which should be way more than the Type-052D.

For reference, the Arleigh Burke destroyers started out with 9MW, but the latest ones under construction have 12MW