Jane's Defence Weekly reported on May 12, 2004 that the first of two modified Sovremenny-class destroyers being built for the PLAN by Russia was launched on April 27, 2004. The ships are being constructed at Severnaya Verf Shipyard is due to be handed over to the PLAN in late 2005. Both ships are of the Project 956EM design and include an aft AK-130 twin 130mm gun mounting, the Kashtan inner-layer defense system instead of the AK-630M. The 965EM will also carry an improved version of the Moskit missile.