China Commissions New Electronic Reconnaissance Ship

The China Navy has commissioned Tuesday morning a new electronic reconnaissance ship, CNS Kaiyangxing to a combat support flotilla of the North Sea Fleet.

The flotilla of the North Sea Fleet is located in Qingdao, Shandong province, a PLA Navy media outlet reported today.

The Kaiyangxing is capable of conducting all-weather, round-the-clock reconnaissance on multiple and different targets.

The Kaiyangxing is a Type 815A electronic reconnaissance ship, which has a full displacement of 6,000 metric tons and a maximum speed of 20 knots, or 37 kilometers per hour, according to the Modern Navy report.

The ship is equipped with three small-caliber naval guns. The US Navy deploys at least 15 intelligence collection ships, while China still lags behind in this regard, an expert from China's shipbuilding industry told China Daily.

"The fact that we are facing an increasing number of difficulties when we safeguard our maritime interests means that we require more reconnaissance ships to support the PLA Navy's operations on the open sea," he said.

The PLA Navy now operates six electronic reconnaissance vessels Beijixing (Polaris), Tianwangxing (Uranus), Tianlangxing (Sirius), Haiwangxing (Neptune), Kaiyangxing (Mizar) and another vessel which is only known by its hull code 855.

In 2016, the PLA Navy commissioned a total of 18 ships, including a Type 052D guided missile destroyer, three Type 054A guided missile frigates and six Type 056 corvettes.

These ships have a total displacement of 150,000 tons, roughly half of the overall displacement of the Royal Navy.

China is now building a domestically designed aircraft carrier in Dalian, Liaoning province. According to Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun, the new carrier will have a displacement of 50,000 tons and will deploy domestically developed J-15 fighter jets.