BEIJING, Feb. 20 (ChinaMil) — “China is in a leading position in the world regarding the level and capability of surface vessel development,” Zhu Yingfu said on Feb. 17 at the first “High-tech Ships and Deep-sea Exploitation Equipment Innovation Forum” held in Shanghai, reported Taiwan United News Network recently.
Zhu Yingfu is a researcher at the China Shipbuilding Industry Corp (CSIC) 701 Institute and an academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering. Furthermore, Zhu is the chief designer of China’s first aircraft carrier Liaoning (Hull 16), so his remarks drew close attention from media.
Taiwan media quoted reports from Chinese mainland that according to Zhu Yingfu, China’s surface vessel equipment has developed rapidly in recent years to meet the nation’s defense needs.
Based on efforts in the last few years, China is now in a leading position worldwide in terms of the level and capability of surface vessel development, providing a strong guarantee for the Chinese navy to carry out far-sea defense missions, according to Zhu.
Zhu Yingfu said that China has always aimed for world advanced level in its surface vessel design ideas and concepts in recent years. As a result, the vessels are growing in tonnage, far-sea voyage environment is further improved, and their information perception capability, precision of firepower equipment and stealth technology are notably bettered.
All of the improvement have made China one of the world’s strong navy powers in terms of technology and capability system. Zhu emphasized that China’s new-type vessels will “overtake on the turning”.
Chinese military expert Li Jie echoed Zhu’s view on February 19, 2017.
According to Li Jie, China’s vessel technology has improved remarkably over recent years. Military vessels are all very young, updated at a fast pace, and of a high level in general with strong air defense, anti-ship and anti-submarine performances.
Li Jie said the advancement of China’s main battle surface vessels first lies in their systematic layout covering all sizes.
With full-load displacement as the criterion, 052D, 054A and 056 form an advanced vessel system, and all three of them are ranked among the top in the world.
Secondly, China’s new-type vessels are of a large scale. There are more than ten 052D vessel systems, either commissioned or to be commissioned soon, more than twenty 054A vessel systems and more than thirty 056 vessel systems.
China has also made constant progress on comprehensive supply ships in the past few years, some of which are of 20,000-30,000 or even 40,000 ton displacement. Future vessels will have even better performance as their radar, firing system and artillery will be continuously improved.
It is also reported that the Type-055 large guided-missile destroyer is under development and construction. If this were true, China and the U.S. would be the only two countries to have this large advanced destroyer.
“These vessels provide more options for escorting large and medium-sized carrier taskforce in the future, which is an important foundation for creating a powerful navy in the real sense,” said Li Jie.