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Chinese Navy (PLAN) Commissions 1st Type 052D DestroyerDDG-172, Kunming March 21, 2014 The Chinese Navy commissioned the first of class, Type 052D, destroyer, DDG-172, Kunming, on March 21, 2014. This is a new class of destroyer that is a significant upgrade over the Type 052C, Lanzhou Class, destroyers that the Chinese have finished building six of. The Lanzho Class was Chinas first true multi-rile, wide area defense destroyer employing a sophisticated battle management system, Phased Array Radars, and Vertical Launch missile systems. That earlier class had 48 cells for surface to air missile to defend a large group ships...

Today's China Military Review pronouncement regarding the construction going on at Changxing Island could indicates that the vessel is in fact a large, LHA Amphibious Assault vessel. This is the first "semi-official," type indication that the vessel and structures we see there at Changxing Island are in fact a PLAN LHA. I have come up with to explain what we are seeing. PLAN Type 75 LHA Under Construction at Changxing Island(Click for a high-res image) PLAN Type 75 Construction at Changxing Island Explanation(Click for a high-res image) From this, it is clear to me that the PLAN is constructimg its...

On Friday, May 25th, 2007, the Republic of South Korea reached a major milestone in its military and defense progress. The first Korean Destroyer Experimental III vessel (KDX-3) was launched on that date. The new vessel, named the Sejong the Great, DDG 991, is a full AEGIS capable vessel employing the same AN/SPY-1D system as the US Navy Areligh Burke class destroyers, and also utilizing the same AN/SQQ-89 submarine warfare suite. But the vessels are also much more heavily armed than their American counterparts, with an 80 cell VLS grouping forward dedicated to SM-2 missiles, and a 48 cell VLS...