China's New Missile Destroyer: the 'Magic Shield of China'

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, May 29, 2003

China's New Missile Destroyer: the 'Magic Shield of China'

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The launch of China's first destroyer equipped with home-made ship-based missile operational system has been reported by Jane's Defense Weekly. The destroyer, the correspondence of US "Aegis", was dubbed the "magic shield of China" by Western military strategists. Since only the United States, Russia, Japan and a few European countries have the abilities to produce this type of complicated "magic shield" operational system in today's world, the launch of the "China magic shield" ship is of a milestone significance to China's navy. At the same time,

The "China magic shield" was built and launched at a speed beyond the expectations of the West, indicating that the manufacturing level of China's warships is heading toward maturity.

Aegis represents the most advanced world level

The "Aegis" operational system is an advanced ship missile system (ASMS) developed by US naval force in order to meet the need of ship-based air defense system. In the eyes of US naval force, the "Aegis" combat system can effectively resist the missile attacks mounted by the enemy simultaneously from all directions, it constitutes a solid shield of the US fleet.

After it was successfully developed in 1981, the US "Aegis" operational system has been used in succession to equip 27 US cruisers and new destroyers, and Japan has bought the said system from the United States to equip a new generation destroyer of its navy. Because it represents the most advanced naval scientific and technological level in today's world, so its production cost naturally is very high, reaching US$200 million per system (not including missile). In spite of the high cost, more and more countries have vied with one another to join the ranks of producing the "Aegis" warships. These countries include old-brand naval powers, Germany and Holland, as well as Norway and the Republic of Korea. In order to strengthen their naval force, Taiwan authorities have also tried every possible means to purchase the "Aegis" system from the United States.

To get to know the "China magic shield" ship

"This is a world-level warship of good performance China independently created after 20 years of digestion and assimilation of foreign ship-building technologies and in connection of the latest domestic scientific and technological achievements", said a Chinese military strategist while appraising the "China magic shield" ship. In contour, the "China magic shield" destroyer embodies the characteristics of the Russian water surface ship with a well-shaped body and smooth line-type; its upper structure absorbs the terse and easy features of Europe's new generation large main battle ship, with stress on the performance of invisibility. From the contour of the exquisitely made ship body, it can be guessed that the ship has an excellent ocean-going capability. The "China magic shield" ship has a perfect command, communication, electronic- interference, electronic reconnaissance system.

According to the Jane's Defense Weekly, the "China magic shield" ship was installed with China-made four-faceted large phased array radar, similar to the SPY-1D (V) three coordinate phased array radar of the US "Aegis) system. The ship-carrying weapons are especially attractive, they include single tube 100 mm main artillery with obscure characteristics, the vertical launching system for the most up-to-date home-made long-range air defense missiles, the new-generation super-sonic anti-ship missile and new-type, short range anti-missile system. These weapons were all manufactured at home in an integrated way, this fully demonstrated the scale and perfection of the supporting system for China's water surface ships. Worthy of mentioning is that the performance of the home-made new-type anti-ship missiles is not inferior to a Russia-type anti-ship missile called aircraft carrier killer.

One must not ignore the ocean if one wants to make his country prosperous

In the eyes of a strategist, ocean is always the focal point of attention. Ancient Chinese great navigator Zheng He had a famous remark: "If one wants to make his country prosperous, one must not ignore the ocean, as wealth is obtained from the sea, so danger also comes from the sea." A famous American military theoretician also bluntly pointed out: Anyone who controls the ocean also controls the world. In the 21st century, along with the intensified contention for ocean island reef and resources, the situation featuring the scramble for interest on the sea will become more severe. The United States, Japan, Russia and India are expanding their naval force at all costs. A situation of contention among various powers has emerged in the surrounding water areas of China. The construction of China's navy has traversed a course from poverty and blankness and gone through the stages of purchase, imitation, self-design and construction and has finally taken initial shape. Nevertheless, China's currently equipped main battle destroyers are still dominated by first- and second-generation destroyers with the existence of many shortcomings, such as small tonnage, the lack of effective time and space and anti-submarine means, rendering it impossible to meet the needs of future operations. Modern war is characterized by three-dimensional war involving the navy, ground and air forces, China's navy needs large water surface ships with strong capability for ocean operations. Russia's "Independent Military Review" reported that China's navy is implementing a 50-year, three-stage modernization program and will finally form an ocean fleet with the ability for ocean operations. The birth of the "China magic shield" destroyer will become a turning point by which the Chinese navy will switch from offshore to distant waters.

China's navy faces a long way ahead

Rear Admiral Zheng Ming, former head of the navy armament department, said that a warship with advanced properties could give full play to its combat effectiveness only when it is held in the hands of people with high competence. Chinese navy can guarantee that it is in an invincible position in future warfare only by intensifying personnel training while strengthening armament construction. Speaking specifically about the spate of Western media reports on the "China magic shield" ship, general Zheng Ming said that one must not fail to see the ulterior motives hidden behind these reports. He said that the development of China's navy is built on the basis of the strategic guideline of active defense, the Chinese navy's military spending is much lower than that of some neighboring countries, therefore, Chinese navy is a defensive force.

Although the "China magic shield" ship has been launched, the number of large warships in China's possession is still very few, Japan already has four "Aegis" warships, but there are very few reports by Western media about this. Western media play up the "China magic shield" ship in order to whip up opinion about the "China threat theory" and cover up their aim to develop their marine force by taking advantage of this opportunity. General Zheng Ming said that the "China magic shield" ship is the result of Chinese ship-builders' effort to keep pace with advanced world level, but we must clearly understand that there is still a certain gap between our technical level and the advanced world level, and Chinese navy still has a long way to go.

By People's Daily Online

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