The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) commissioned two more Type 056 (Jiangdao-class) guided missile frigates as part of a fast paced frigate building program that will end when 60 of these ship killers are built.

CNS Baoding (511) and CNS Heze (512) will join the East Sea Fleet after they were commissioned on Dec. 12 at a naval port in Lianyungang in Jiangsu Province. There are six other Type 056 frigates in the East China Fleet.

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Based in the port city of Ningbo in Zhejiang province, the East Sea Fleet's main mission is to provide naval firepower and support for China's invasion of Taiwan.

Rear Admiral Cao Zhubing, deputy political commissar of the East Sea Fleet, attended the commissioning ceremony and presented the PLAN ensign and naming certificate to the two new frigates.

CNS Baoding and CNS Heze, which are both named after important Chinese cities, are equipped with domestically developed weapons capable of attacking U.S. Navy surface warships; aircraft and submarines independently or as part of a combined arms group.

The Type 052, however, is mainly outfitted as a warship killer and for this mission is armed with four YJ-83 sea-skimming, sub-sonic anti-ship cruise missiles in two twin-cell launchers. The YJ-83 and its 190 kg high-explosive fragmentation warhead has a maximum range of 190 kilometers.

The export version of this missile, the C-802, was used by Houthi rebels in Yemen in three unsuccessful attacks on U.S. Navy destroyers at the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait off the Yemeni coast last October.

Three more Type 056 corvettes were launched in September and October, bringing to 39 the total number of corvettes in the People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force (PLANSF), and making this class the most numerous surface warships in the navy.

Of this total, 27 (exclusing Baoding and Heze) are in active service patrolling littoral or near shore waters off the Chinese mainland. PLANSF plans to have at least 60 of these small but heavily armed warships with most being equipped for surface warfare (Type 056) and the rest for anti-submarine warfare (Type 056A).

Chinese media reports that 12 corvettes are currently being fitted-out or undergoing pre-commissioning trials. This process takes about 12 months to complete, meaning PLANSF should receive four more ships before the year ends.

Chinese shipyards at Liaonan, Wuchang, Hudong and Huangpu are turning out corvettes at the rate of one every six weeks, an impressive record. The new warships will be distributed among PLAN's South Sea, East Sea and North Sea Fleets. A number of Type 056s are also being built for the China Coast Guard.

The Type 056 are the smallest principal surface combatants in the PLAN. They're replacing the large numbers of missile boats, submarine chasers and gunboats patrolling China's extensive littoral waters.

TagsPeople's Liberation Army Navy, CNS Baoding, CNS Heze, East China Fleet., Type 056 (Jiangdao-class) guided missile frigates