Another piece of China’s military force projection strategy falls into place. The Type 055 guided missile destroyers will escort China’s aircraft carriers and defend them against enemy ships, planes and subs. Naval technology is a weak point of mine, but from what I gather, the Type 055 shows that China has pulled ahead of Russia in terms of shipbuilding capability (also note that China recently launched its second aircraft carrier, whereas Russia only has one–in the repair shop). This is also the first time China has built a guided missile destroyer that wasn’t significantly smaller than standard U.S. destroyers.
On paper, the Type 055 is roughly equivalent (in terms of ship dimensions and types of weapons) to the American Arleigh-Burke missile destroyers and Ticonderoga missile cruisers, which comprise the backbone of the U.S. Navy surface combatant force. However, it’s a safe assumption that there are many “devils in the details,” and the Type 055 has considerably inferior technology. The U.S. also has many more destroyers and cruisers than China (most of which are outdated Type 051 and “just OK” 052 class ships).
So while it’s certainly not time for the Pentagon to panic, China’s launching of the Type 055 should still be seen as an important milestone that shows China is steadily closing the naval gap with America. A single Type 055 isn’t anything to worry about, but six of them (which is how many China wants to eventually build) would be.
Links:
- http://www.janes.com/article/71903/china-launches-largest-surface-combatant-to-date
- https://southfront.org/china-launches-first-type-055-destroyer-first-step-shifting-naval-balance-power-pacific/