battle machines

Chinese Naval power has been growing leaps and bounds every year. Since early 2000s the Chinese Navy, officially known as the People’s Liberation Army Navy has maintained an ever increasing launch and commissioning cadence of new warships. Now in the mid 2020s alarm bells have started ringing in Asian countries as they have been left kilometers behind the lead the Chinese Navy has launched in both numbers and capabilitiy. We are seeing frantic steps being taken by others to maintain atleast a semblance of a regional edge in capabilities to deter future mis-adventures too far from home. The steps being taken are as follows.

Indian Navy

Foregoing its very short term focused procurement philosophy, is rumored to take the following steps, these could be confirmed or denied later.

1. Order 7 more P-17A frigates of the Nilgiri class
2. Order 1 more Vikrant class carrier
3. Order Rafale-Ms as interim naval fighter
4. Order 6 more Scorpene boats.

F-35B lands on JS Izumo

Japanese Navy (Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force)

The Japanese Navy has also kickstarted a domestic building plan, but they are countering both the renewed threat of North Korean ballistic missiles and the Chinese Navy as a whole.

1. Conversion of Izumo class DDHs to F-35B toting carriers.
2. Design and building of 20,000 tonne Aegis BMD arsenal ships.
3. Increase number of Aegis vessels sanctioned to be in service at once.

Australian Navy (Royal Australian Navy)

The Aussies are also looking to boost their fleet with the following projects.

1. AUKUS looking to bring nuclear submarine tech to Australia
2. 7 Hunter class frigates for Australia

South Korean Navy (Republic of Korea Navy)

The South Koreans have sanctioned the following or are planning to do the following.

1. Three more Sejong the Great class KDX-III destroyers, I like to call them Super Arleigh Burke class.
2. KDDX class destroyers to follow KDX-III
3. Potential conversion of Dokdo class to carry F-35B
4. Building a 45,000 tonne F-35B toting carrier currently designated CVX.

But this counter build up is not our main focus, our focus is why are these navies upping their service numbers. The answer is the following 3 classes of ships in service and 1 carrier being fitted out

Type 055 Cruisers, oops Destroyers

The Arleigh Burke class along with the Ticonderoga class reigned as the god tier of naval combatants as the Russian Slavas and Kirovs lingered for decades with minimal upgrades but more importantly far fewer numbers. The commissioning of the first Type 055 changed that metric. At 12,000 tonnes, carrying a 112 VLS cells (only 10 less than Tico, 16 more than Burke), these are larger than Ticonderoga class and hence should ideally be called Cruisers, but are not. Their radar is analogus in capabilities with the Aegis system we see on USN and Japanese vessels. You might see that the displacements of vessels pitting against Type 055 are far lower, but thats the point, I am comparing Tier 1 of all navies, then Tier 2 from all navies and so on. Type 055 is tier one, Type 052D/C is tier two and Type 054A is tier 3.

The real kicker is in the numbers. The Chinese are commissioning 2-3 every year compared to the 1-2 a year for the Arleigh Burke class. Reliable analysts suggest a second batch of 8 ships has started construction. Since the first commissioning in Jan 2020, they have gone on to commission 7 (maybe 8) as of Mar 2023 which is mind blowing. To put it into perspective.

The Chinese have commissioned more Type 055s in a year than all of these navies combined and the Chinese have capacities to spare in terms of more Type 052Ds.

Type 052D Destroyers

First commissioned in 2014, these ships introduced the concept of Universal Vertical Launch System as in all cells are same size and can fire everything in the Chinese Navy surface fleet. These were game changing as everyone could see that given the numbers Chinese can build them in and their capabilities, they are going to be what F-16 is to the USAF behind the then rumored larger Type 055 being the F-15. Also sporting the Aegis like quad array, these ships are no slouches in the radar department either.

At 8,000 tonnes and featuring 64 VLS cells, these were not Burke competitors but a good challenger with Burke having 30% more VLS compared to these. Again, the kicker here is numbers. The Chinese are building and commissioning 5-7 a year which is massive. They have 25 such destroyers in service already and 6 slightly less capable Type 052C variants that have Chinese derivative of the S300 called HQ-9 instead of the UVLS and angled anti-ship missile launchers. These numbers are as of Mar 2023 and I am not including all Chinese navy destroyers to highlight how lopsided the comparison is with everything on the Japanese/South Korean/Indian/Aussie side versus the best of the Chinese fleet.

Lets do a side by side again.

Type 054A Frigate

The Type 054A is a frigate lover’s frigate. Armed with a decent SAM, Chinese derivative of the Shtil-VL (seen on Russian Admiral Grigorovich class frigates) called HQ-16 and 8 anti-ship missiles with a tried and tested derivative of Top Plate radar called Type 382 locally. These can do surface warfare and anti-submarine warfare with ease against lesser forces. Again the kicker is the numbers. They are building these frigates in massive numbers, with 35 in trials or in service as of Mar 2023. Let us again do a numbers comparison.

We have previously covered the Chinese aircraft carrier program until Shandong CV-17 HERE and will update it once Fujian enters service.

The idea behind this article is that the Chinese have out built other local or regional navies in last two decades. The numbers of their premier assets in any category out number a few of their regional competitors. It has gone down to such an extent that without the US jumping in to support any allies, or all three of these working together or atleast one or two working together to just fend off the cream of the Chinese navy. This is the point I wanted to highlight.