Type 051 Luda - Requirements
Since the 1950s, the Chinese Navy’s air defense system has always pursued surface ships and shore-based aviation. The idea of cooperative aviation combat is also this kind of system idea in the era of designing the 051 destroyer. In this combat style, coastal radar, shore-based combat aircraft, and surface ships jointly construct a defense zone extending from the coastline to the distant sea, increasing the depth of air defense at key coastal areas. Shore-based aviation is mainly responsible for interception and attack beyond the range of surface ships' air defense weapons, and large surface ships such as destroyers are used as extensions of coastal warning radars and to fill blind spots in horizon antenna blind zones. Chinese destroyers also undertake the mission of covering strategic missile nuclear submarines across the island chain and from the continental shelf into the deep ocean of the Pacific Ocean. These sea areas are between Taiwan and Japan.
Under the circumstances at that time, there was a great possibility of being attacked by the Kuomintang. Those sea areas happened to be on the edge of the maximum combat radius of the Continental Air Force fighters, which caused the fighters taking off from the mainland base to have insufficient time to leave the combat airspace on the edge of the continental shelf, making it difficult for the destroyer to provide continuous patrol and alert cover. Equipped with destroyers near the maximum combat radius of the fighter plane, it can obtain long-range air information notification, timely command and dispatch, and make full use of the pitiful lack of empty time near the maximum combat radius.
The "Luda" class destroyers, born in the extreme left of the Cultural Revolution, must consider the extremely unfavorable international environment in which China was at the time. In this case, it is of great significance to extend the air defense circle to the sea and increase the depth of air defense at the main site. Deploying destroyers with long-range anti-aircraft warning radars and low-altitude warnings between the air defense base and the enemy can increase the depth of air defense by hundreds of nautical miles. In addition, because the destroyer is a maneuverable platform equipped with anti-aircraft fire, the enemy ’s positioning and attack on the radar are more difficult than attacking the shore-based radar. If an air defense formation activity is formed, it will be more difficult for the enemy to strike.
The main solution to the above two needs is to equip the destroyer with long-range air-to-air police radar. The first long-range anti-aircraft warning radar equipped in the "Luda" class is the 515-type UHF band radar with a high-altitude range of more than 380 kilometers. This band can extend the coastal surface to a distance beyond the water antenna, so the detection range of ultra-low-altitude targets is also It is slightly farther than the microwave band radar, and it is said that it can reach a low-altitude target flying at a height of 50 meters at a range of 60 kilometers, but the distance error of 515 is large.
Generally, the speed of the long-range air-to-air warning radar is 6 to 12 laps per minute, and the data refresh rate does not meet the warning requirements for high-speed ultra-low-altitude targets within 60 kilometers. It is easy to cause a dangerous situation where the target penetrates into a large distance within 2 contact intervals. It is usually equipped with a sea and low-altitude short-range search radar with a rotation speed of up to 12 to 24 revolutions per minute to supplement the rapid search within the visibility range of the water antenna. The 354 radar installed on the "Luda" class destroyer serves as a means of alerting the sea and low-altitude targets.
Both 515 and 354 radars are two-coordinate radars that can only detect the direction of the target and perform range measurement, and cannot provide target height parameters. For intercepting ultra-low-altitude targets, the target's altitude parameter is not important, because the target is close to the water surface at a long distance and is in the field of view of the optical command and aiming equipment, as long as the equipment is aligned to the azimuth and can be quickly captured. High-altitude targets require a pitch search on the radar's azimuth to determine the target position, thereby controlling the weapon system's aiming. The "Luda" class destroyers mainly rely on optical shooting command.
In the concept of air defense operations in the 1960s, the emphasis was still on hitting mid- and high-altitude targets. Because both combat aircraft and anti-ship missiles at that time were flying at an altitude of more than 300 meters. The objective world is equal to both offensive and defensive sides. The ultra-low altitude makes the destroyer's air defense radar horizon blocked by water antennas, as well as the fighter's radar search horizon. At the time, the response speed and redundancy of the autopilot and the accuracy of the sensors could not reliably ensure that the fighters carried out long-term ultra-low-altitude flights. Therefore, when conducting anti-ship operations, aviation personnel usually take mid- and high-altitude flights and conduct various maneuvers after approaching the target. This greatly increases the chance of the destroyer radar intercepting the target remotely.
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