Strength On The Surface

Naval orders-of-battle are on the rise in the Asia-Pacific. Mounting tensions over territory, resources and state-on-state rivalries at sea are prompting Asia-Pacific navies to boost capability to support higher-end operations. Frigates and destroyers are at the centre of these developments.

- Lee Willett

In late 2015, a small flotilla of People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) warships, the ‘Type-054A/Jiangkai-II’ class frigate Yiyang and the ‘Type-052C/Luyang-II’ class destroyer Jinan, supported by the ‘Type903/Fuchi’ class oiler and replenishment ship Qiandao Hu, completed a round-the-world voyage. The deployment began in the Indian Ocean, with a rotation as the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Naval Escort Flotilla, supporting counter-piracy operations off the Horn of Africa. The ships then headed west of the Suez Canal to undertake a number of port visits in the Mediterranean, and into northern Europe and the Baltic. They then headed home via trans-oceanic crossings of the Atlantic and Pacific (the former including North American port visits).

The PLAN’s ‘Jiangkai’ frigate family has become arguably one of the most ubiquitous warships in the world, being seen in different theatres and undertaking a range of different tasks, much as the US Navy’s ‘Arleigh Burke’ class destroyers do. This 2015 PLAN deployment demonstrated the navy’s emerging ability to use escort platforms to both conduct task group operations and generate sustained presence at distance. The PLAN’s destroyers and frigates are playing a key role in working up task group capability to support the PRC’s first aircraft carrier, Liaoning. According to The Guardian, the Liaoning was accompanied by two destroyers and a frigate when it called in to Hong Kong in early July 2017. Other reports noted that the two destroyers were the Jinan and the ‘Type 052D/Luyang-III’ class destroyer Yinchuan, with the ‘Type-054A/JiangkaiII’ class frigate Yantai completing the group. In May 2017, the ‘Arleigh Burke’ class destroyer USS