The Diplomat:
China has reportedly launched the 14th Type 052D Luyang III-class guided-missile destroyer — dubbed the “Chinese Aegis”—at the Jiangnan shipyard in Shanghai in early July, according to Satellite imagery captured on 16 July and published by East Pendulum.
Satellite imagery shows a stretched Type 052D variant afloat in a fitting-out basin together with a Type 055 guided-missile destroyer on order for the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). (The Type 055 destroyer was launched in April of this year.) Satellite images indicate that the Type 052Ds helicopter deck is about four meters longer while the size the hangar remains unchanged.
The larger flight was likely installed to support the naval version of China’s new Harbin Z-20 or Zhi-20 currently introduced into service with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and comparable to the U.S.-made Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. The naval variant of the Z-20 is thought to be specially equipped for anti-submarine warfare missions. As I explained previously, the Type 052D is a formidable surface combatant.
