China's newly commissioned destroyer, frigate achieve battle readiness

Guiyang - Artyom Ivanov

China's newly commissioned destroyer, frigate achieve battle readiness - Global Times

By Liu Xuanzun 
Source:Global Times 
Published: 2020/3/4 19:48:40 
Last Updated: 2020/3/4 20:48:40


Two recently commissioned warships of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy are now ready to do batte after passing an all-subject training examination, the Navy announced on Wednesday, as experts said the service has done well in its sailor training program while receiving more and more warships.

The PLA Northern Theater Command Navy recently organized a three-day-long, all-subject training examination at sea featuring two recently commissioned warships simultaneously, and the two proved to be combat-ready, according to a statement the PLA North China Sea Fleet released on its Sina Weibo account on Wednesday.

The two warships are Type 052D guided missile destroyer Guiyang and Type 054A guided missile frigate Zaozhuang, which both joined military service in February 2019, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Tuesday.

During the training examination, which aimed to test the warships' capability to deal with multiple types of threats at the same time and emergency situations, the two ships formed a flotilla with other vessels and sailed into a designated area in the Yellow Sea, CCTV said.

Other surface vessels, submarines, fighter jets, early warning aircraft, helicopters, observation stations and jamming units also participated either as support units or mock enemies. Dozens of combat scenarios were simulated, including aerial targets interception and anti-submarine, CCTV reported.

Guiyang and Zaozhuang achieved combat readiness in only a year, and other Chinese warships took even less time, meaning the Chinese Navy is training new sailors at an astonishing speed, a military expert who asked not to be named told the Global Times on Wednesday.

China has been building more warships to develop its navy, but these new ships must be operated by capable sailors, the expert said, noting that the Navy's training program has kept pace with the construction of warships, and the Navy's overall development is progressing smoothly.

"The situation of having more new ships but without enough capable operators will not occur to China," the expert said.


Type 52D destroyer: Details
Type 054A (Jiangkai II): Details