PLA's Type 055 destroyer to be bigger than US Arleigh Burke-class

China's Type 055 guided-missile destroyer currently under construction will be bigger and probably more powerful than the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers of the United States, according to Strategy Page, a US-based website covering global defense issues, on June 28.

With a displacement of 12,000 tonnes, the size of the Type 055 is much closer to a cruiser than a destroyer and the largest surface combat vessel China has ever built, excluding the Liaoning aircraft carrier which was refitted from a hulk purchased from Ukraine.

Beijing claims the Type 055 equipped with 128 vertical launch tubes would be the equivalent of a US Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer built around the Aegis Combat System. Compared to China's current Type 052D guided-missile destroyer, however, the Type 055 looks more like the real "Chinese Aegis," the report said.

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