Video丨Preemptive Strike, First to Open Fire, First to Destroy the Enemy: Revealing How the "10,000-Ton Destroyer" Achieves Over-the-Horizon Strike Capability

Ask AI · What key role does the early warning aircraft play in beyond-visual-range strikes?

Recently, the Type 055 destroyer family has gained another new member. The Dongguan (Hull No. 109) and Anqing (Hull No. 110) destroyers made their simultaneous debut. The Type 055 destroyers are the fourth-generation destroyers independently developed and built by China. At sea, they can achieve “detect first, fire first.” What technology makes its “eyes” so sharp? Let’s uncover how the “ten-thousand-ton class big destroyer” enables beyond-visual-range strikes.

On traditional warships, many radar, electronic warfare, and communications systems’ antenna equipment are concentrated on the upper portion of the vessel. They interfere with each other severely, which both weakens radar detection performance and, due to competition for limited spectrum resources, reduces the effectiveness of electronic countermeasures.

And the RF radio-frequency integrated integration technology solves this problem.

• It builds a super information hub, centrally coordinates various electronic devices, integrates and processes all sensing information, and implements the integration of RF functions such as radar, electronic warfare, communications, and navigation. Through resource sharing, it greatly enhances the ship’s battlefield situational awareness capability.

Early warning aircraft + “ten-thousand-ton class big destroyer”

Initiating beyond-visual-range strikes

But battlefield challenges still remain. Enemy sea-skimming cruise missile raids and stealthy aircraft approaching from beyond visual range will significantly compress the radar detection window available to the ship. To secure valuable early-warning and decision-making time for the vessel, the answer lies in the higher, farther sky.

Not long after the “battle” began, based on the early warning aircraft’s data link push, the radar operator quickly locked onto the “enemy” surface target. After a round of coordinated salvo fire, the target was successfully destroyed. This three-dimensional reconnaissance network generated in combination gives the entire task force a wider perspective and fewer blind spots.

**Lhasa-class destroyer, Navy officer Wang Mingwei: **We use data links to conduct battle situation communications with the early warning aircraft in the air. This is one way to expand battlefield situational awareness capabilities. Its biggest help to me is mainly in two areas: maritime and air. It can provide beyond-visual-range targets.

The early warning aircraft is the “heavenly eye” of system-level warfare. It can help a battle group carry out efficient strikes against enemy maritime targets and targets on islands at extremely long ranges. This information interconnection approach enables the Type 055 destroyers’ information sensing capability and joint sea-air combat capability to achieve a qualitative leap.

**Wei Dongxu: **Within the framework of integrated air and maritime force operations, the early warning aircraft can not only effectively detect aerial targets, but also, with assistance from other detection systems, better track and locate maritime targets.

Of course, it can also send to the ten-thousand-ton class large destroyer the information and coordinates of the enemy high-value maritime targets that advanced front-end unmanned aircraft have detected and located.

For example, in response to the enemy aircraft carrier, destroyers, cruisers, and related large amphibious warships, the Type 055 destroyer can carry out beyond-visual-range firepower strikes. It can launch large numbers of anti-ship missiles, cruise missiles, or hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missiles to achieve precise fire coverage against targets.

This makes it possible to open up the engagement distance so that the enemy cannot counterattack the Type 055 destroyer or pose a threat. With support and backing from the airborne early warning command and control platform, the Type 055 destroyer possesses the operational capability to act first, fire first, and destroy the enemy first.

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