The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is the naval branch of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the armed forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLAN force consists of approximately 250,000 men and over a hundred major combat vessels, organized into three fleets: the North Sea Fleet, the East Sea Fleet, and the South Sea Fleet.
Most of the naval weapon systems used by the PLAN were developed prior to 1990. The naval weaponry of the PLAN is based on three tiers: artillery, torpedoes, and missiles, each geared to a specific threat range and type.
History
Throughout its early history from 1949 to the early 1980s, the PLAN had principally relied upon artillery and torpedoes as its main weapons. This resulted in the development of many types and calibers of anti-aircraft and anti-ship guns. Torpedoes were secondary weapons, playing an important role in PLAN's coastal defense doctrines. Many destroyers, frigates and torpedo craft all carry an array of anti-ship torpedoes to this day.
The adoption of the missile, like in most navies, has completely revolutionized Chinese naval capabilities and tactics. Also, there has been growing attention given to ASW, electronic, and airborne weaponry.
The Cultural Revolution was a major disruption to many weapons development programs of the PLAN. Advanced weaponry concepts were always in the minds of PLAN thinkers since the 1950s, even if they were unable to be implemented at the time. Therefore, a lot of modern weapon systems such as SAMs, modernized torpedoes and missile/sensor systems were not introduced into service until the early 1980s. Furthermore, economic and technical sophistication to produce the fire control, targeting systems, and tracking capabilities were not in place until the mid-1980s.
Artillery systems
In the PLAN, artillery takes the form of anti-ship guns and anti-aircraft guns. Anti-ship guns are typically found on destroyers and cruisers, with smaller versions on frigates. Smaller ships utilize torpedoes for anti-ship weaponry. The increasing use of missiles means less attention is paid to pure anti-ship weapons. The PLAN never possessed battleships or battlecruisers, and the use of a ship's main guns is mostly in standoff capacity, as they have never engaged in close-shore support from cruisers or destroyers.
Anti-aircraft guns vary in size and power from swivel-mount 25 mm machine guns to advanced Close-In Weapon Systems (CIWS) and radar-assisted 57 mm rapid-fire anti-aircraft weapons. Almost all classes of PLAN vessels maintain at least some anti-aircraft capability. Most destroyers and cruisers augment this with surface-to-air missiles.
Older and legacy artillery systems currently in use
The most commonly carried artillery system in most indigenous ships is the 37 mm anti-aircraft artillery (Type-61/76). This is a manually operated gun, with a gun crew on an open mount. The Type 61 is carried by most Chinese surface combatants, ranging from the small Shanghai and Hainan coastal combat vessels to the largest combatants of the Luda and Jianghu class. These guns are highly limited—they can be operated only in clear weather conditions and are effective only in daylight conditions since they lack radar coordination or any form of automatic or autonomous targeting. They are, however, economical and highly reliable. Their firepower has been effectively utilized not only against aircraft but also against surface and land targets.
The old manually operated Type-61 37 mm weapon is gradually being phased out in favor of automatic weaponry, but it nonetheless remains on board many littoral and major combatant vessels. In addition to the manual 37 mm, there is the Type-66 57 mm (120 rounds per minute at 12,000 m) and Type-61 25 mm cannon systems (800 rounds per minute at 2,500 m). These are also manually mounted. The 57 mm is prominent on board the Hainan class and several LSTs. This system like the 37 mm is almost totally ineffective against modern jet aircraft and incoming missiles. However it has been combat proven to be effective against enemy shipping, particularly in the Sino-Vietnamese naval battle near the Spratley Islands on several occasions.