Destroyer War: US Navy Flight III DDG 51 vs. China’s New Type 055

by Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington DC)  While rival nation destroyers may not directly face one-another in an all-out, blue-water maritime warfare scenario, both US Navy Flight III DDG 51 destroyers and the People’s Liberation Army – Navy’s new class of Type 055 destroyers each operate as a defining and foundational war platform for their respect fleets. 

In a simple, clear sense, range, guidance precision and volume of on-board weapons would prove decisive as a measure of difference, yet the real margin of superiority would like pertain to the extent to which each platform were able to truly network and coordinate with other assets across a multi-domain maritime warfare environment.  For example, the destroyer which best integrates with aerial surveillance and attack systems, unmanned platforms and submarines is likely to close the “sensor-to-shooter” curve faster and therefore prevail.  How “networked” are the aerial surveillance nodes and to what extent can layered ship defenses see and intercept, jam or destroy incoming missiles?  Another critical question, does the PLAN operate any equivalent to the US Navy’s now-operational Tactical Tomahawk which can track and destroy moving targets and change course in flight from hundreds of miles away?  Which Navy can operate attack submarines with sufficient stealth, quieting technologies and precision weapons to destroy the other’s fleet of surface warships. 

Given these variables, a direct one-for-one, destroyer against destroyer comparison might not accurately address the question of superiority but rather an integrated look at how each platform can operate synergystically with air and undersea platforms, integrate command and control, operate impactful layered ship defenses and more efficiently link surveillance nodes with weapons and fire control for precision targeting and rapid attack. 

A true comparison of the US DDG 51s and China’s Type 055 would likely need to also incorporate the US Navy’s Zumwalt-class warships, given that China’s new quasi-stealthy destroyers reveal distinct similarities to both DDG 51 Flight III and Zumwalt destroyers.