China showcases naval prowess despite simulated losses
Chinese media has published the results of a war game that involved a clash with the United States. In the simulated battle, American LRASM missiles overcame Chinese defences and sunk a guided missile destroyer. However, Western analysts question why China revealed all this to the world.
Type 055 ships are some of the Chinese navy's most modern and largest vessels. Although Beijing classifies them as destroyers due to their displacement exceeding 14,000 tonnes and their capabilities, they are considered by the West to be a class higher—as cruisers.
The key asset of these 185-metre vessels is the 112-cell vertical launch system, from which anti-ship missiles (like the YJ-18), anti-aircraft missiles (HHQ-9), cruise missiles (CJ-10), and anti-ship ballistic missiles (YJ-21) can be launched. Type 055 ships are built with stealth requirements in mind and are equipped with modern sensors, self-defence systems, and electronic warfare capabilities.
This type of ship was used by the Chinese in a simulated confrontation with the Americans. During the simulation, the Type 055 destroyer was attacked with 10 LRASM anti-ship missiles launched from various platforms.
AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) is an anti-ship variant of the JASSM-ER missile, carried by aircraft and launched from shipborne Mk 41 VLS or land-based HIMARS launchers.
Introduced into service in 2017, the LRASM is intended to be the successor to the Harpoon missile, offering greater capabilities and a range of over 900 kilometres.
Type 055 destroyer "sunk" by LRASM missiles
During a simulation conducted by the state-run North China Institute of Computing Technology (NCICT), the Chinese Type 055 destroyer was attacked by ten LRASM missiles and sunk. However, before that happened, the ship managed to disrupt the guidance of most of the rockets.
While sinking a ship with a weapon designed for that purpose should not be surprising, the unusual aspect is that China publicised the simulation's course.
According to the RUSI think tank, which analysed the Chinese report on the simulated battles, China may want to signal to the world the essential capabilities of its new warships. These capabilities concern electronic warfare, GPS signal jamming over a significant area, or—as documented in the simulation—interfering with the passive radar of the LRASM missiles.
Advertisement of Chinese capabilities
From this perspective, the seemingly unfavourable simulation outcome for China, resulting in the sinking of a ship, is more of a demonstration of its capabilities in detecting, tracking, and neutralising anti-ship missiles.
At the same time, RUSI points out that—by simulating a battle with the USA—China did not consider the existence of AWACS aircraft or hard-kill self-defence measures (physically destroying incoming missiles), focusing only on electronic warfare.
