The new destroyer is the penultimate of 10 Type 052DL class ships for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy. It has a total displacement of 7,500 tons and is equipped with a 64-cell vertical launch system. It is the largest in the world and typical of Chinese warships.
The vertical launch system can launch various types of rockets. They include the YJ-21 ballistic anti-ship missile with a hypersonic maneuverable warhead. As usual, information about Chinese weapons is classified. The missile is believed to have a range of 1500 km and a speed of Mach 9 (3.1 km/s).
The 64-cell vertical launch system is also designed for YJ-18 anti-ship cruise missiles, HHQ-9 long-range anti-aircraft missiles and CJ-10 cruise missiles. Future modifications of the Type 052DL class destroyers are expected to allow the ships to be armed with HQ-26 long-range surface-to-air missile systems.
The arsenal of this class of destroyers includes a 130-mm gun, a Type 1130 close combat weapon system, torpedo tubes, and a HQ-10 short-range anti-aircraft missile system. The aircraft can be equipped with Z-9C or Ka-28 helicopters.