On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Navy, CCTV News Channel launched a special report titled “Main Equipment Replacement, Fleet Formation Exercise Enhancing Combat Capability” on April 21.
The report specifically mentioned the combat capability formation process of the Type 055 large destroyer under the command of a certain destroyer squadron in the Southern Theater Command Navy.
Formation of combat capability in less than a year
Firstly, looking at the process of the “Xianyang” ship forming combat capability, from its commissioning to completing comprehensive training assessments and fully forming combat capability, it achieved remarkable efficiency. In less than a year, it completed the entire process of forming combat capability. For a large surface combatant like the “Xianyang,” with a full displacement of 13,000 tons, categorized as a cruiser in the U.S. Navy’s combat sequence, the speed at which combat capability was formed is indeed remarkable.
For comparison, let’s consider the U.S. Navy’s “Burke III” class destroyer. This destroyer was intended by the U.S. Navy to temporarily replace the “Ticonderoga” class cruisers and was equipped with enhanced air defense command capabilities, using the more powerful AN/SPY-6 AMDR-S radar. Originally scheduled for delivery of the first ship in fiscal year 2021, it was delayed until October of fiscal year 2023, with the initial operational capability (IOC) expected in fiscal year 2025, and full operational capability not until 2026.
After completing the comprehensive training assessment, the ship can execute combat missions. Judging from the time the “Xianyang” ship joined the Southern Theater Command Navy, according to CCTV’s report, it was on the eve of last year’s Navy Day. Considering that CCTV’s wording this year is “the ‘Xianyang’ destroyer has just completed far-sea combat patrol and far-sea training missions”… Combat patrols must be conducted after forming combat capability, so China can clearly state that the “Xianyang” ship completed comprehensive training and formed combat capability between April of last year and March of this year.
Far-sea training of the “Xianyang” destroyer
What’s more attention-grabbing is CCTV’s report on the “Xianyang” ship’s recent departure for the open sea. CCTV explicitly stated in the report that the “Xianyang” ship recently completed combat patrols and far-sea training missions in the South China Sea, East Indian Ocean, and West Pacific Ocean. During these missions, the “Xianyang” ship deeply integrated into the joint combat command system and completed dozens of subjects such as wide-area maneuvering, anti-aircraft missile defense, and joint strikes.
In this report, it’s easier to understand the major categories of subjects the “Xianyang” destroyer executed:
“Wide-area maneuvering” likely refers to transoceanic maneuvers, such as running from the South China Sea to the Western Pacific Ocean and then to the Indian Ocean. In addition to transoceanic movement, it also involves crossing oceans, testing the ship’s navigation and communication capabilities, organizing long-distance sailing, dealing with adverse ocean conditions, conducting shore-to-ship communication, etc., which can be considered as training for the basic capabilities of a combat ship.
“Anti-aircraft missile defense” and “joint strikes” are self-explanatory. As a versatile player in maritime combat, the “Xianyang” ship’s equipped large-scale universal vertical launch system can simultaneously accommodate anti-ship missiles, various types of anti-aircraft missiles, etc., and can execute air and sea strike missions simultaneously. Here, what China should pay more attention to is CCTV’s description of the “Xianyang” ship’s “deep integration into the joint combat command system.” Obviously, due to the limitations of the earth’s curvature, the anti-ship missiles cannot be used to strike beyond the line of sight targets, and the same principle applies to anti-aircraft missiles, which cannot strike low-altitude targets below the horizon.
Therefore, how the “Xianyang” destroyer receives target information and implements strikes under the guidance of onshore command posts when it operates as a single ship or in a formation (without aircraft carriers or carrier-based early warning aircraft) is obviously due to the “joint combat command system.” So, how is this “joint combat command system” constructed and how does it function? The maximum effective range is very critical. Of course, this is an absolute military secret, and China has no way of knowing it. The only thing China knows is that this command system seems powerful and practical.
The mysterious route of the “Xianyang” destroyer
What’s even more surprising is the route of the “Xianyang” ship’s combat patrol this time. CCTV mentioned the South China Sea, East Indian Ocean, and West Pacific, which is quite surprising. According to the order of these sea areas mentioned by CCTV, the South China Sea should be the first visited, then the East Indian Ocean, and finally the Western Pacific. As is well known, the South China Sea is a semi-closed sea area “enclosed” by the Philippines, the Indochinese Peninsula, and the Indonesian archipelago. So, it’s intriguing where the “Xianyang” ship went after leaving the South China Sea.
Some military observers believe that if it went through the Malacca Strait, there would have been plenty of photos from the Singaporean side, and as long as China went through the Malacca Strait, the Indian Navy would have definitely received the news through human intelligence. From Chennai on the eastern coast of India to the western exit of the Malacca Strait, it’s only 2000 kilometers. For this latest cutting-edge large destroyer of the Chinese Navy, given India’s penchant for being nosy, it would have definitely sent P-8I anti-submarine patrol aircraft to follow and photograph if China had gone through the Malacca Strait. So, it’s unlikely that China slipped out and back silently.
The only explanation is that the “Xianyang” destroyer probably went out through the Sunda Strait or the Lombok Strait in the Indonesian archipelago, but it’s more likely the Lombok Strait. After all, the Sunda Strait is too close to Jakarta, so there’s a possibility of being seen, while in the Lombok Strait, there aren’t many people on Bali and Lombok, so if it passed through the strait on a dark and stormy night, it would be below the horizon the next morning. Few people would probably see it, and if they did, they might think it’s a U.S. Navy warship, or even a passenger liner.
After leaving the Indonesian archipelago, China’s activity area most likely lies between Sumatra and the Cocos Islands. Of course, this area also belongs to the eastern Indian Ocean. As for how China got to the West Pacific, it’s even more mysterious. Some military experts believe that China may have passed through the Timor Sea and the Banda Sea in the eastern Indonesian archipelago, then entered the waters near Palau. It’s possible that the “Xianyang” ship’s entire route was not tracked by the U.S. Navy and was not discovered by the Indian Navy.
This suggests that the Indian Navy has significant shortcomings in monitoring the Indian Ocean region, even the eastern Indian Ocean close to its homeland, while the U.S. Navy, due to concentrating a large number of ships in the front of the Western Pacific, has relaxed its surveillance of the flanks, namely the Indonesian archipelago. It seems that the Australian Navy is also ill-prepared, completely unaware that Chinese surface vessels would appear just a few hundred kilometers from Australia.
