China’s Type 055 Destroyer Has More Firepower Than US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class Ships: Global Times

China’s new missile destroyer has had 112 Vertical Launching Systems (VLS) installed, which according to experts could upgrade the rapid-reaction capability of weapons, local media reports.

The new Type 055 guided-missile destroyer surpasses the US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in terms of launch cells quantity, state-run news agency Global Times reports citing a CCTV report. The Arleigh Burke class has 96 vertical launch cells available.

“The number of VLSs shows the combat and rapid-reaction capability of [China’s] warships,” military expert Song Zhongping told the Global Times on Thursday.

“Since recharging a VLS is relatively difficult, the more VLSs a vessel takes, the stronger and quicker its reaction,” the expert noted. He added that increasing the number of launching tubes and cells of vessels could pave the way for China’s large warships in the future.

The Type 055 destroyer, the Chinese navy’s first 10,000-ton domestically designed and produced vessel, was unveiled at Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) in East China’s Shanghai on June 28.

The destroyer is the first of China’s new generation destroyers. It is equipped with new air defense, anti-missile, anti-ship and anti-submarine weapons.