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Luhu class destroyer Wikipedia

Harbin (112), a Type 052 Luhu-class destroyer, on manuevers during a fleet exercise.
Image:PLAN_Harbin.jpg|300px|thumb|Harbin (112) entering harbor
The Type 052 Luhu-class is the first truly multi-role missile-equipped destroyer built by China. It is also one of the most advanced in their naval inventory, though the class still lags behind Western standards. There are currently two units in active service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) with no plans of further construction of additional units.

Designed by the China Warship Design Institute (formerly the Seventh Academy of the Ministry of National Defense), the ships were built at Jiangnan Shipyard. No.112 Harbin was the first Luhu destroyer followed by No.113 Qingdao. The class is said to be the first indigenous Chinese warship design approaching modern standards, a significant improvement over the earlier Luda class destroyer|Luda class. The Luhu made extensive use of foreign technologies that were accessible to the PRC prior to the Tiananmen Square incident of 1989. These included French-made radars and fire-control systems and the GE LM2500 gas turbine engines from the U.S., two of which power each ship.

Even with incorporation of Western technology, the chronic lack of adequate ship-borne air defense system have had great impact on the PLAN operations. Equipped with small number surface-to-air missile and guns with limited range and performance, Chinese warships had historically limited their operations within the area covered by their land-based aircraft. To rectify this trend, the Luhu destroyers, and the smaller Jiangwei-class frigates, were fitted with the HQ-7 Surface-to-air missile|SAM that gives it much better air defense capability than any other previous Chinese design, though still limited to within visual range (WVR).

In spite of these advances, the Luhu still suffers in some areas such as electronic warfare and electronic counter-measures. The Chinese attempted to address these problems with the introduction of an improved Luhu design, the Luhai-class. This follow-on, essentially an enlarged Luhu, features improved electronics from foreign suppliers as well as more advanced weapons.

Last Modified:   2005-11-04