Dahua-Class - 891 Bi Sheng - Shipborne Air Defense System
Weak maritime air defense capabilities have always been one of the problems that plagued the development of the Chinese Navy. Therefore, at the beginning of the design of the third-generation domestic destroyers, breakthroughs in ship-based air defense systems were required to enable the Chinese Navy to have a more advanced maritime defense system in the early 21st century. The air defense combat platform guarantees the Chinese navy's ability to attack the overall combat at sea, which makes the development of a new type of ship-borne air defense missile system particularly attract attention.
The Bisheng ship was once equipped with two types of ship-to-air missile systems, all of which adopted vertical launch methods. Because of its small footprint, large ammunition carrying capacity, and fast launch speed, it was widely used in new models built after the 1990s. On the destroyer and frigate.
There are two types of vertical launch systems, one is circular and the other is square. The shape and size of the circular launcher is similar to that of the Russian SA-N-6 system, but the SA-N-6 system has only one launch port. Each missile is launched from this launch port. The missile needs to be aligned by the rotation of the cartridge. The next one can only be launched after the launch port. The "Leif" system invisibly increases the complexity of the system, reduces the launch speed of the missile, and has low reliability. It simply does not reflect the advantages of the vertical launcher. The other square vertical launcher on the Bi Sheng ship seems to be a thermal launch method like the US MK41. It has an independent flame exhaust channel, and its shape is significantly smaller than the cylindrical launcher on the ship, so it may be mainly used Launch medium and short-range air defense missiles or anti-submarine missiles of small size and weight. They are mainly equipped on destroyers and frigates for short-range and regional air defense operations.
Regarding the ship-to-air missile model, the circular launcher tested the Haihongqi-9 mid- and long-range area air defense missile. Overseas media said that Bi Sheng ship tested this type of ship-to-air missile for the first time in 1999, and achieved very good test results. Subsequently, it conducted multiple intercept tests on targets of different types, directions, and heights. A satisfactory result was obtained. The square launcher tested the Haihongqi-16 mid-range and short-range air defense missiles. According to the analysis of foreign military review agencies, it is at least a medium-range air defense missile similar to the Russian SA-N-12, which can compensate for long-range ship-to-air missiles. The shortcomings of the minimum range and minimum shooting height are too large, filling the gap of its air defense firepower, and together with the large number of ship-to-air missiles in active service, it has built a multi-level air defense system on the Chinese sea.
As the core part of the entire long-range shipborne air defense system, the radar system also completed the final finalization test on the Bisheng ship. Around 1998 or 1999, China’s first naval phased array radar was installed at the bridge on the right side of the Bi Sheng ship, which is considered to be an active phased array radar. As the most important radar equipment on the third-generation air defense destroyer, this radar was finally installed on the 052C (NATO code Luyang II) air defense destroyer.
