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Thursday, 20 February 2025

Chinese Renhai Class Destroyer One Third the Cost of Australia's Hobart Class Air Warfare Destroyer and Has About Twice the Firepower

I'm no expert on matters nautical, nor matters martial or military. However I decided to check out the specifications of the Chinese Renhai class missile destroyer which was in international waters off Australia's East coast this week.

It's a monster. It has two banks of universal vertical launch system - or missile tubes - one that accomodates 64 missiles and the other which houses 48. It has 16 more 'missile tubes' than the 64 cell + 32 cell USA Arleigh Burke class missile destroyer.



Source of Following Data: Wikipedia
Class overview
Builders
Operators People's Liberation Army Navy
CostCN¥6 billion (US$888 million) per unit including R&D (FY 2017)[1]
Built2014–present[2]
In service2020–present[3]
Planned16[6]
Building4[4]
Active8[5]
General characteristics
TypeGuided-missile destroyer
Guided-missile cruiser (per NATO)
Displacement
  • 11,000 tonnes (standard)[7]
  • 12–13,000 tonnes (full load)[8]
Length180 m (590 ft 7 in)[8]
Beam20 m (65 ft 7 in)[8]
Draught6.6 m (21 ft 8 in)[2]
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)[2]
Range5,000 nmi (9,300 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)[2]
Complement300+[10]
Sensors and
processing systems
Electronic warfare
& decoys
Armament
Aircraft carried
Aviation facilities
  • Stern hangar[17]
  • Helicopter landing platform[17]

Hobart class Air Warfare Missile Destroyer

As you can see from the above data, the Renhai class is about US$888 million per unit including research and development costs. 

The Hobart Class, which has just less than half the armaments, is more than twice the price. The data below shows the unit price of the Hobart class at AUS$3.01 billion, or roughly USD$2.1 billion according to today's exhange rate.

Source: Wikimedia

Source of Following Data: Wikipedia

Class overview
NameHobart class
Builders
Operators Royal Australian Navy
Preceded byPerth-class destroyer and Adelaide-class frigate
Cost
  • A$9.1 billion (2020)[1][2][3] for 3 units + ToT (est.)
  • A$3.03 billion (2020) per unit (est.)
Built2009–2020
In commission2017–present
Planned3
Active3
General characteristics (as designed)
TypeGuided-missile destroyer
Displacement7,000 tonnes (6,900 long tons; 7,700 short tons) full load
Length147.2 metres (483 ft)
Beam18.6 metres (61 ft) maximum
Draught5.17 metres (17.0 ft)
Propulsion
  • Combined diesel or gas (CODOG) arrangement
  • 2 × General Electric Marine model 7LM2500-SA-MLG38 gas turbines, 17,500 kilowatts (23,500 hp) each
  • 2 × Caterpillar Bravo 16 V Bravo diesel engines, 5,650 kilowatts (7,580 hp) each
  • 2 × controllable pitch propellers
SpeedOver 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph)
RangeOver 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement
  • 186 + 16 aircrew
  • Accommodation for 234
Sensors and
processing systems
  • Aegis combat system
  • Lockheed Martin AN/SPY-1D(V) S-band radar
  • Northrop Grumman AN/SPQ-9B X-band pulse Doppler horizon search radar
  • Raytheon Mark 99 fire-control system with two AN/SPG-62 continuous wave illuminating radars
  • 2 × L-3 Communications SAM Electronics X-band navigation radars
  • Ultra Electronics Sonar Systems, hull mounted sonar and towed sonar[4]
  • Ultra Electronics Series 2500 electro-optical director
  • Sagem VAMPIR IR search and track system
  • Rafael Toplite stabilised target acquisition sights
Electronic warfare
& decoys
  • ITT EDO Reconnaissance and Surveillance Systems ES-3701 ESM radar
  • SwRI MBS-567A communications ESM system
  • Ultra Electronics Avalon Systems multipurpose digital receiver
  • Jenkins Engineering Defence Systems low-band receiver
  • 4 × Nulka decoy launchers
  • 4 × 6-tube multipurpose decoy launchers
Armament
Aircraft carried1 × MH-60R Seahawk