Chinese Destroyer Equipped With Land-attack Cruise Missile

China's Type 055 guided missile destroyer has been armed with long-range land-attack cruise missiles, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy said Sunday.

On China's Twitter-like microblogging site Sina Weibo, the PLA Navy also announced that it operates not only vessels, but also submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) with strategic missile submarines. The missiles are the main battle equipment of the PLA Rocket Force.

"Long-range land-attack cruise missiles will allow destroyers to launch more powerful precision strikes on land targets compared to main guns, which have a lower range and are less accurate," a military expert was quoted as saying by Global Times.

Four ships of this class are currently being built. A fleet of eight Type 055 powerful naval vessels are planned to be built by China in all.
Nanchang, first of Beijing's Type 055 destroyers was displayed in April 2019 at the fleet review of the PLA Navy's 70th anniversary celebration in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province.

Displacing more than 10,000 tons, the Type 055 is a 180-meter-long, 20-meter-wide guided missile destroyer with 112 vertical launch missile cells capable of launching missiles such as surface-to-air, anti-ship, land-attack and anti-submarine missiles, according to media reports. There are plans of the destroyer being deployed for anti-ballistic missile operations.

The number of vertical launch missile cells is an important indicator of how powerful a warship is. China's Type 052D destroyer has 64 vertical launch missile cells, which is nearly half that of the Type 055. America's Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and Ticonderoga-class cruiser have 96 and 122 respectively.

The Navy's Sina Weibo post did not elaborate on the designation or specifications of the long-range land-attack cruise missile, and went on to introduce the Navy's J-10 and J-11 fighter jets that are also operated by the Air Force, as well as Z-8 and Z-9 helicopters, amphibious armored vehicles and howitzers that are also used by the Army.