China’s Type 055 “Super Destroyer” Conducts High-Intensity Anti-Submarine Warfare Drills in the South China Sea, Signalling a New Phase in PLAN Undersea Dominance

(DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA) — China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has escalated the strategic signalling threshold in the South China Sea by deploying its Type 055 Renhai-class “Super Destroyer” for high-intensity anti-submarine warfare drills in the South China Sea, a move that underscores Beijing’s determination to neutralise the most dangerous asymmetric threat to its maritime ambitions—hostile submarines operating undetected in contested waters critical to China’s national security and economic lifelines.

The drills, conducted by the Type 055 destroyer CNS Zunyi (hull number 107), reflect a deliberate shift from scripted training to free-form, confrontation-based operational scenarios, indicating that the PLAN is now prioritising realism, uncertainty, and rapid decision-making as it prepares for high-end naval conflict against technologically sophisticated adversaries.

Speaking from an operational perspective, Yang Minghan, a crew member aboard CNS Zunyi, emphasised that “The Type 055 is a new-type destroyer equipped with a host of advanced new systems, boasting cutting-edge performance,” adding that only by mastering “every single detail with absolute clarity” can these systems be fused into a coherent combat network capable of delivering decisive operational effects.

Complementing this assessment, another crew member, Xu Yi, highlighted the PLAN’s increasing reliance on environmental intelligence, noting that “The crew have pre-analyzed the underwater terrains and marine environments of certain sea areas, as well as their impacts on acoustic propagation,” a methodological shift that reflects the PLAN’s transition toward data-centric, systems-of-systems warfare in complex maritime environments.

From a strategic standpoint, Wang Yunfei, a Chinese military affairs expert, observed that “Given the larger displacement of the Type 055, its bow sonar and towed sonar systems are estimated to be larger than those used by the Type 052D destroyer and Type 054A frigate,” underscoring the ship’s enhanced capacity to detect submarines at greater distances and with higher fidelity.

Wang further stressed that “The Type 055 large destroyer is built to have two helicopter hangars,” enabling it to deploy an additional Z-20 anti-submarine helicopter, a capability that significantly expands the PLAN’s ASW surveillance envelope and reaction speed across wide maritime areas.

These remarks collectively frame the drills not as isolated training events, but as part of a broader Chinese effort to reshape the undersea balance of power in a maritime theatre that carries over USD 3 trillion (approximately RM 14.1 trillion) in annual trade and represents one of the most strategically contested bodies of water in the world.

By conducting these exercises in the South China Sea—an area characterised by deep waters, complex acoustic conditions, and intense foreign submarine activity—China is sending an unmistakable message that its surface fleet is no longer merely defensive, but increasingly capable of denying adversaries the stealth advantage traditionally enjoyed beneath the waves.

The Type 055 Renhai-Class Destroyer as the Apex of China’s Surface Combatant Evolution

The Type 055 Renhai-class destroyer represents the culmination of decades of Chinese naval engineering, embodying Beijing’s ambition to field a surface combatant that combines cruiser-level displacement, stealth architecture, and multi-domain lethality within a single integrated warship optimised for blue-water power projection.

Displacing approximately 13,000 tonnes at full load, the Type 055 is among the largest destroyers ever constructed globally, a fact that has led many Western analysts to classify it functionally as a cruiser rather than a destroyer, placing it in the same conceptual category as the US Navy’s Ticonderoga-class.

Commissioned into service beginning in 2019 with the lead ship CNS Nanchang, the Type 055 emerged directly from President Xi Jinping’s directive to build a “world-class navy,” signalling a decisive break from China’s traditionally coastal-focused maritime doctrine toward sustained global naval presence.

As of early 2026, eight Type 055 destroyers have entered active service, with additional units under construction, reflecting a production tempo that underscores Beijing’s confidence in the design and its centrality to future carrier strike group and expeditionary task force operations.

At the heart of the Type 055’s combat power lies its 112-cell universal vertical launch system (VLS), capable of firing a diverse mix of munitions including YJ-18 anti-ship cruise missiles, HHQ-9 long-range surface-to-air missiles, and Yu-8 rocket-delivered lightweight torpedoes for anti-submarine warfare.

This VLS capacity, when combined with the ship’s command-and-control architecture, allows the Type 055 to function simultaneously as an area air-defence node, a land-attack platform, and a maritime strike asset, making it uniquely suited to serve as the backbone of PLAN surface task groups.

Equally critical is the destroyer’s advanced sensor suite, anchored by a dual-band AESA radar system comparable in concept to the US Navy’s AN/SPY-6, providing high-resolution tracking of aerial, surface, and ballistic threats while enabling cooperative engagement across multiple platforms.

In ASW terms, the Type 055’s large displacement permits the installation of a powerful bow-mounted sonar and a variable-depth towed array sonar, systems that benefit directly from greater physical size, electrical generation capacity, and onboard processing power.

When viewed holistically, the Type 055 is not merely a warship but a floating combat system designed to integrate sensors, shooters, helicopters, and data networks into a single operational organism capable of dominating complex maritime battlespaces.

CNS Zunyi and the Operational Maturation of PLAN High-End Naval Training

The operational history of CNS Zunyi, the seventh ship of the Type 055 class, illustrates how the PLAN is accelerating the combat readiness of its most advanced surface combatants through sustained high-tempo deployments and increasingly realistic training scenarios.

Launched in December 2019 and commissioned in November 2022, CNS Zunyi has already accumulated more than 200 days at sea and logged over 50,000 nautical miles, a tempo that rivals that of mature Western navies and reflects China’s growing confidence in long-duration operations.

Since entering service, the destroyer has participated in aircraft carrier formation drills, routine combat patrols in the South China Sea, and complex live-fire exercises in distant seas, including operations in the Tasman Sea near Australia, demonstrating its readiness for out-of-area missions.

These deployments have exposed the ship and its crew to a wide range of operational challenges, from integrating with carrier strike groups to coordinating multi-platform maritime strike scenarios, thereby accelerating doctrinal learning and tactical refinement.

The PLAN has increasingly emphasised “system-oriented operations,” a concept that prioritises the seamless integration of sensors, weapons, and command nodes across multiple platforms rather than platform-centric engagements.

Within this framework, CNS Zunyi has been used as a testbed for new ASW doctrines that stress decentralised decision-making, rapid data fusion, and adaptive responses to unpredictable underwater threats.

By placing Zunyi at the centre of these efforts, the PLAN is effectively grooming the Type 055 class to assume leadership roles within surface action groups, particularly in contested maritime environments where information dominance is decisive.

The ship’s accumulated operational experience has allowed its crew to refine standard operating procedures, identify system bottlenecks, and integrate environmental intelligence into tactical planning, all of which are essential for effective ASW.

This progression reflects a broader institutional shift within the PLAN from quantity-driven fleet expansion to qualitative enhancement of combat effectiveness, particularly in domains historically dominated by Western navies.

Anatomy of the High-Intensity Anti-Submarine Warfare Drills in the South China Sea

The high-intensity ASW drills conducted by CNS Zunyi in January 2026 were designed to replicate the chaotic and unforgiving conditions of real undersea combat, marking a departure from scripted exercises toward free-form, adversarial training.

Unlike pre-planned manoeuvres, these drills forced the crew to respond dynamically to simulated submarine threats, testing their ability to detect, classify, track, and engage underwater targets under time pressure and information uncertainty.

Zunyi was tasked with forward reconnaissance and early warning duties within a broader naval formation, highlighting the Type 055’s role as both a sensor node and a command platform within PLAN task forces.

Central to the exercise was the use of the destroyer’s integrated sonar suite to build a real-time underwater situational awareness picture, combining data from bow sonar, towed arrays, and helicopter-deployed sensors.

The South China Sea’s complex underwater environment, with average depths exceeding 1,200 metres, presents ideal conditions for submarine concealment, making accurate acoustic modelling and environmental analysis essential.

To address this challenge, the crew conducted extensive pre-exercise analysis of seabed topography, thermal layers, and current patterns, enabling more precise predictions of acoustic propagation and sonar performance.

As Xu Yi noted, this environmental preparation “can assist them in achieving more effective submarine detection,” underscoring the PLAN’s increasing reliance on scientific modelling and data analytics in combat planning.

The drills incorporated simulated torpedo attacks and rocket-delivered anti-submarine munitions, coordinated with Z-20F helicopters deploying sonobuoys and dipping sonars to extend detection ranges beyond the ship’s organic sensors.

Through repeated iterations, the PLAN refined four core pillars of ASW effectiveness: peacetime research, pre-combat calculation, in-combat control, and post-combat evaluation, creating a continuous feedback loop for capability improvement.

This methodology reflects a maturing ASW culture within the PLAN, one that recognises undersea warfare as a discipline requiring sustained intellectual investment rather than episodic training.

Strategic Rationale Behind China’s Intensifying ASW Focus in the South China Sea

China’s renewed emphasis on anti-submarine warfare in the South China Sea is driven by a clear strategic imperative: countering the increasing presence of advanced foreign submarines capable of threatening PLAN surface forces, coastal infrastructure, and strategic deterrent assets.

The waters of the South China Sea are known to host frequent deployments of US Navy nuclear-powered attack submarines, including Virginia-class boats, which represent one of the most lethal components of American maritime power projection.

For Beijing, the stealth and persistence of these submarines pose a direct challenge to its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy, particularly in scenarios involving Taiwan or contested features in the Spratly and Paracel Islands.

By enhancing the ASW capabilities of platforms like the Type 055, China aims to deny adversaries the ability to operate freely beneath the surface, thereby reducing the operational advantage traditionally enjoyed by undersea forces.

As Wang Yunfei observed, the South China Sea “sees intensive submarine activities due to its water depth that is well-suited for submarine operations,” making it the ideal proving ground for realistic ASW training.

The dual-helicopter configuration of the Type 055 further amplifies this capability, allowing continuous airborne ASW coverage that can overwhelm submarine evasion tactics through persistent surveillance.

From a regional perspective, these developments are closely watched by Southeast Asian claimants, including the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia, all of whom view enhanced Chinese ASW proficiency as a force multiplier that strengthens Beijing’s de facto control over contested waters.

For the United States and its allies, the maturation of China’s ASW capabilities complicates operational planning, potentially increasing the risks associated with submarine deployments in the region.

The drills therefore represent not just a tactical exercise, but a strategic message that China is rapidly closing one of the last remaining gaps in its naval warfare portfolio.

Regional and Global Security Implications of Type 055 ASW Operations

The high-intensity ASW drills conducted by the Type 055 have far-reaching implications for regional stability and global maritime security, particularly as major powers recalibrate their naval postures in response to China’s rise.

For ASEAN states, the presence of a highly capable ASW platform in disputed waters raises concerns about escalation dynamics and the shrinking operational space for smaller navies operating conventional submarines.

Countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia may feel compelled to invest in quieter submarines, improved sonar networks, or closer security partnerships to offset China’s growing undersea detection capabilities.

At the same time, the drills reinforce Beijing’s ability to enforce its maritime claims through persistent presence and operational dominance rather than overt conflict, a hallmark of China’s “grey-zone” strategy.

Globally, the United States, Japan, and Australia are responding through initiatives such as AUKUS, which will see Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines by the 2030s at a projected cost exceeding USD 245 billion (approximately RM 1.15 trillion).

However, the Type 055’s integration into carrier strike groups and amphibious task forces suggests that China is preparing for expeditionary operations that extend well beyond the first island chain.

In economic terms, heightened ASW activity in a maritime corridor carrying USD 3 trillion (RM 14.1 trillion) in trade annually increases the stakes of miscalculation, as even minor incidents could disrupt global supply chains.

Ultimately, the Type 055 ASW drills highlight a rapidly evolving naval balance in the Indo-Pacific, one in which undersea dominance is no longer the exclusive domain of Western navies.

As the PLAN continues to refine its ASW doctrine and deploy advanced platforms, the South China Sea is set to become an even more complex and contested battlespace, with profound implications for regional security architecture. 

— DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA