The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force used to be known as the strongest maritime power in Asia, but after entering the second decade of the 21st century, it appears to be a bit sorry for the old maritime power. Although the sea of Japan is not slow to develop compared to the maritime power of most countries, it is still not very effective in the era of "shield ships" all over the world. In this case, the service of the "Maya"-class guided-missile destroyer has naturally become a major event worth showing off for the Sea of Japan. No, not long after it was commissioned, the Sea of Japan has shown photos of the "Maya" trial. For the Sea of Japan, the first guided-missile destroyer with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons after World War II is still exciting for a while. .
Legend: "Maya" class destroyer No. 179
In any case, for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, the "Maya" class destroyer is a very important battleship. Although the "Maya" class did not get rid of the "Arleigh Burke" class, which is regarded by Japan as a model for the design of anti-aircraft guided missile destroyers, so much so that many military enthusiasts ridiculed it as "King Kong class magic modification", but the design of the ship It's remarkable. The design of the "Mayer" class originated from the Heisei 27 Missile Destroyer (27DDG) project, which aims to provide a new type of "shield ship" for the Maritime Self-Defense Force to replace the already very old "Flagwind" class guided missile destroyer. By updating the anti-aircraft destroyer, each escort group has two "shields". In order to take into account the technological advancement and continuity, the "Maya" class mainly refers to the "Arleigh Burke" Flight 2 in the design, and adopts the latest generation of "Aegis" system. Although the "Arleigh Burke" Flight 2 is not the latest US destroyer design, it has a high degree of maturity and should be considered the most suitable choice for Japan, which urgently needs to update its air defense destroyer.
Legend: "Maya" class destroyer launching ceremony (July 2018)
is different from the previous "King Kong" class and "Atago" class, "Maya" class configuration A new generation of AN/SPY-1D (V) phased array radar is used. Compared with the previous models of the SPY-1 series, the AN/SPY-1D(V) not only has a stronger ability to detect distant sea targets, but also highlights the enhancement of the ability to detect and track ballistic missiles and cruise missiles flying in sea skimming. Anti-jamming performance At the same time, the "Maya" level also upgraded the "Aegis" system version to "Baseline" 9C, reaching an unprecedented level in information processing capabilities. Although there is no commendable update in the weapon system, through the use of new technologies in other areas, the combat capability of the "Maya" class is still improved by a notch over the previous "Atago" class. In addition, the "Maya" class has also made some modifications to the hull design, especially in terms of stealth processing, which significantly improves the "Maya" class's survivability in high-intensity maritime conflicts.
Legend: The Maya class II ship
is the latest generation of guided-missile destroyers in Japan, and also Japan’s first destroyer with a full load displacement of more than 10,000 tons. The "Maya" class is often used Military enthusiasts are compared with the "King Sejong" class and Type 055. It should be said that these three types of destroyers represent the highest level of guided missile destroyers at present, and their tasks are relatively similar, but the design emphasis and positioning are different. As the three largest displacement guided missile destroyers at present (excluding the "Zumwalt" class whose main task is ground attack), the design ideas of the "Maya" class, the "Sejong King" class and the Type 055 are very similar. It integrates a complete combat system and a large number (96 to 128) of missile launching units on a larger ship-body platform, so that it has strong offensive and defensive combat capabilities. At the same time, due to the large hull platform, it is also suitable to be equipped with command equipment as a fleet command ship. Considering the special maritime combat environment in Northeast Asia, it is not surprising that the three countries choose similar technical ideas.
Legend: Maya class announced the name
But in terms of practical use, the three types of destroyers are very different. The "King Sejong" class is often criticized for being big and improper, which has nothing to do with the blind stacking of firepower on the ship, but the difficulty in achieving the expected combat effectiveness. The South Korean Navy’s main consideration when designing the "King Sejong" classThe "Atago" class that resists and suppresses the Sea of Japan, so blindly pursues strong firepower and outstanding indicators, but in specific use, it can basically only play the role of firepower, and it failed to truly use the ship as a flagship. The design idea of Type 055 is just the opposite. The ship is mainly considered as a maritime formation command platform and an aircraft carrier formation air defense platform, while focusing on its role within the information network. Therefore, although the Type 055 has the largest tonnage and volume among the three, the number of missile launch units is less than that of the "Sejong King" class. At the same time, the issue of ground attack missions is rarely considered at the same time. At the same time, it has one of the three. The best radar and communication capabilities, and an integrated radio frequency management system that the other two do not have.
Legend: The Sejong King class destroyer
Compared with two "comrades" in neighboring countries, the design concept of the "Maya" class is based on the air defense of the Sea of Japan since the Cold War period. The collocation mode of the type destroyer and the general type destroyer, which leads to the fact that although the ship is technically more advanced than the "King Sejong" class, the combat model is also more conservative. The "Maya" class does not have the environment for the use of aircraft carrier formations. Although Japan has the intention of transforming the "Izumo" class helicopter destroyer into a light aircraft carrier, the thunder and the rain are always small, and the "Maya" class has not become a short-term The possibility of long-range air defense platforms in aircraft carrier formations. This has led to the fact that the "Maya" class is actually at the outermost layer of the fleet's air defense circle in the escort group. Since Japan also believes that tactical ballistic missiles pose a threat to its homeland, the "Maya" class must also take into account some anti-missile missions. This makes the "Maya" class have higher requirements for single-ship combat capabilities than the "King Sejong" class.
Legend: Japan Izumo-class DDH-183
From the positioning and combat mission requirements of the "Maya" class, we can see some problems in the development of the Japanese Sea Free Destroyer. What does not match the requirements of the "Mayer" class that emphasizes single-ship combat capability is that the "Arleigh Burke" Flight 2 type, the design basis of the "Mayer" class, is precisely a kind of "universal destroyer" in the US Navy, which makes " Although the technical foundation of the "Maya" class is not weak, the design ideas are inevitably fettered by the "Arleigh Burke" Flight 2 type. As a result, the "Maya" class is probably just unsatisfactory for the Sea of Japan. To be more clear, a 10,000-ton ship that weakens the command and communication capabilities or an upgraded version of the "Sejong the Great" class that perfectly integrates the "Maya" class technology and characteristics may be more suitable for Japan, but because of the " The equipment habits since the "King Kong" class and the limited design and production capacity of Japan’s own ships make it difficult for such a destroyer to be smoothly designed and built with Japan’s own capabilities. Therefore, even if the "Maya" class has problems, it is very important to the Sea of Japan. It is also irreplaceable equipment.
Legend: Japan’s King Kong-class guided missile destroyer
On the other hand, the Sea of Japan has traditionally "air defense destroyers" and "universal destroyers" with a clear mindset in anti-surface warship weapon technology. Today, with rapid progress and any surface warship that requires a certain amount of air defense capability, it may not be suitable anymore. Japan should and hope to use the "shield ship" as a general-purpose surface warship like the U.S. Navy, but Japan’s own capabilities cannot achieve large-scale equipping of the "shield ship"—even without considering the high cost of the “shield ship”, Japan At present, it is also impossible to design key equipment such as high-power gas turbines, combat systems similar to Aegis, large-scale general-purpose ballistic vertical launch systems, etc., so the second choice is to rely on domestic capabilities to produce general-purpose destroyers, and mainly rely on the introduction of foreign systems The production of air defense destroyers is also a last resort.
Legend: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ 30FFM guided missile frigate proposal
From the announcement of the 30FFM guided missile frigate, the focus of the Sea of Japan from the next stage may have shifted to replacing the “escort destroyer” (Equivalent to frigates of other countries)" and other surface warships with the weakest combat capabilities. Compared with these weak links, Japan's general-purpose destroyers are fair in size and quality. After the two "Maya" class air defense destroyers have been updated, they seem to have peace of mind. However, the "King Kong" among the current air defense destroyers"" has been in service for 27 years. The average age of the "Muraame" class of general-purpose destroyers has reached more than 20 years. Not only is the technology not leading, but the ship is in poor condition due to the high frequency of use. In other words, the current destroyers in the Sea of Japan are facing a certain degree of inadequate connection between the old and the new, which may seriously affect the overall combat capability of the Sea of Japan, and will have subtle implications for the maritime security situation in Northeast Asia and the Western Pacific. Influence.
