Type 052D

The People’s Liberation Army Navy’s most numerous modern destroyer — a multirole air-defence combatant with 64 universal VLS cells, an AESA radar, and over 35 hulls in service, forming the backbone of China’s carrier escort and blue-water surface force.

Overview

The Type 052D (Western reporting name Luyang III, also called the Kunming-class) is a guided-missile destroyer that serves as the numerically dominant surface combatant of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). As of early 2026, roughly 35 ships are in service — a mix of the baseline 052D and the stretched-flight-deck 052DL — making it the most-built modern destroyer class in Asia. The class provides area-air-defence for carrier strike groups, long-range anti-ship strike, and land-attack capability from a single hull, and it is the ship that transformed the PLAN into a blue-water fleet.

🔒 The full Type 052D file is for BattlePolicy Pro members. Below the line: development history, design and capabilities, variants, the combat record, advantages and limitations, comparable systems, outlook, the full specifications table, our sourcing, and the analyst assessment — procurement, suppliers and the BattlePolicy verdict. Unlock the full file with BattlePolicy Pro →