Type-052D Destroyer Rival to US DDG1000

Comparison between 052D’s 32-tube VLS for various kinds of missiles and 052C’s 36-tube VLS for air-defense missiles only.

DDG1000. USS Zumwalt 1

DDG1000. USS Zumwalt 2

The US has recently scrapped its plan to produce DDG1000 destroyers as the mainstay of its navy because DDG1000 is not significantly superior to Type 052D.
DDG1000 is advanced mainly in its vertical launch system (VLS) and radar. However, when China’s first Type 052D was commissioned on March 21, 2014, its more details have been revealed to show its VSL is by no means inferior to DDG1000’s.
A launch tube in 052D’s VLS can launch and control 4 different kinds of missiles, including air-defense, anti-ship, anti-submarine and ship-to-ground missiles of different sizes.
The maximum diameter of the missile is 850 mm, bigger than DDG1000’s MK41 VLS.
Unlike US VLS only capable of hot launch or Russian VLS, cold launch, 052D’s VLS tubes are capable of both cold and hot launches of missiles and they also have CCL devices so that the smoke in hot launching of a missile is discharged through a concentric tube.
There are separate launch control electronic equipment for the control of each missile launched to simplify the procedures of control so that there are no longer the complicated control procedures of multi-layer transmission of information and orders.
The new type active phased array radar used on 052D now has a liquid cooling system instead of the air cooling system in Type 346 phased array radar on 052C that has a curved case to increase the area of contact for cooling.
In the new radar, liquid goes through the antenna for cooling. As a liquid cooling system has bigger cooling capacity and the contact area is bigger in the antenna array, the new radar must have greater power and better sustained performance.
Due to the above-mentioned advanced equipment and functions, a DDG1000 is better than 052D only in bigger displacement and 26 more launch tubes. However, designing 12,000-ton Type 055 destroyer bigger than DDG1000. When 055 is commissioned, DDG1000 will be inferior.
Therefore the US has to scrap its DDG1000 plan and decides to produce 10 Virginia class submarines and spent $11.4 billion to produce unmanned long-range bombers to deal with China’s new destroyers.
In the past, the US always believed that it always had the newest ideas in weapon development, but now it seems to be China’s turn.
The most serious problem is that the US remains outdated in sticking to its Air-Sea Battle strategy while for a decade, China has adopted the space-era strategy for the development of integrated space and air capabilities.
Source: huanqiu.com “Preeminant new VLS makes Type 052D destroyer rival to US DDG1000” and “Exposure of 052D destroyer’s mystic radar with overall performance better than existing one in US navy” (summary by Chan Kai Yee)