China Deeply Modernising Type 051C Destroyers to Phase Out Russian Missiles and Radars

Chinese shipyards have made progress with deep modernisation of People’s Liberation Army Navy’s Type 051C class destroyers, with unconfirmed reports indicating that the ships could integrate advanced new vertical launch systems and modern radars to revolutionise their combat capabilities. Only two Type 051C class destroyers were built for the Navy, with these launched in January 2006 and January 2007. Their development allowed the capabilities of Chinese shipyards and other relevant areas of the defence sector to be brought forward, serving as a stepping stone towards a small production run for the Type 052C class destroyer, before the Type 052D class could be made ready for service entry and much larger scale production from the mid-2010s. 

The Type 051C has a particular high proportion of Russian-made equipment onboard, including the Russian-made three-dimensional air surveillance radar, the 30N6E1 single-sided rotating phased array radar, and 48 Russian missile launch cells housing S-300FM long range surface-to-air missiles. Its air defence capabilities were revolutionary for their time for a Chinese-built ship. Although no new destroyers were laid down for the Russian Navy after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russia was able to produce further navalised S-300 systems for China for integration onto the Type 051C class ships, after which subsequent Chinese destroyers used the significantly more advanced HHQ-9B air defence system. Forty-eight launchers on each ship accommodate these missiles, which have 150 kilometre ranges, comparing poorly to the 300 kilometre ranges and far superior target tracking capabilities of the HHQ-9. It remains possible that once retired, the missiles from the S-300FM system may be sold back to Russia, where they are still heavily relied on. 

It is likely that the Type 051C class ships will both integrate new electronics, including sensors, as well as a new primary armament. This could include a single use canister launch system based on that of the Type 052C class destroyers, allowing for the carriage of 48 missiles from the HHQ-9 system. A more ambitious and costly refurbishment could see the ships integrate modern multirole vertical launch systems based on those of the new Type 052D and Type 055 class destroyers that are currently in production, which would allow the ships to employ a variety of modern surface-to-air missile types, as well as a wide range of cruise missile types. As this latter option would require significantly more comprehensive changes to the ships, including to their electronics, it appears more likely that they will instead be modernised to a similar standard to the Type 052C class ships, which although less versatile are still modern and can continue to play important roles in the Navy. While Russia has focused on modernising its Soviet era destroyers comprehensively, the scale of Chinese destroyer production means that it will likely be more cost effective to build more Type 052D class ships than to upgrade the Type 051C into a multirole destroyer.