The PLA at Home and Abroad - Strategic Studies Institute - U.S. Army

The PLAN chose some of its newest, most advanced
(and indigenously constructed) vessels and
most distinguished, experienced officers and crew to
carry out this mission. This suggests that it is serious
about using this opportunity to test some of its foremost
systems and gain modern seafaring experience.
For the first two deployments, the PLAN selected vessels
from the South Sea Fleet, closest to the theater of
operations. The next two deployments have come from
the East Sea Fleet, which suggests a broader effort to
expose as many units as possible to new experiences.
Beijing reportedly sent large, impressive vessels for
four reasons: to withstand difficult sea states, to compensate
for lack of overseas military bases, to preclude
a “mistaken bombing” of China’s assets à la that of its
Embassy in Belgrade in 1999, and to preempt perceptions
of subsequent deployment escalation if it had to
send major vessels in the future. 41
Consider the first deployment. The flagship Wuhan,
and even the newer Haikou (constructed in 2003),
were never previously dispatched this far. Each displace
7,000 tons, have a maximum speed of 30 knots,
and can carry a helicopter for patrol and surveillance. 42
For this mission, both ships embarked a Ka-28 Helix
from the East Sea Fleet, 43 and piloted them with senior
colonels with several thousand hours of flight experience.
44 The selection of East Sea Fleet helicopters to
accompany warships from the South Sea Fleet on the
initial rotation of the anti-piracy mission was likely
due to the fact that the Helix is superior platform to
the Chinese built Z-9. 45 Wuhan boasts anti-ship and
surface-to-air missiles and a close-in weapon system.
Haikou’s first generation phased-array radar and vertically
launched long-range air defense missile system
offer the fleet area air defense previously unavailable
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