China's Newly Commissioned Next-Gen Naval Warship Is The First Of Its Kind

A new generation of Chinese warship has set sail from a military port in Qingdao, sparking international concern over the mounting arsenal of the world's largest navy. The type 054B frigate, called the Luohe, is an evolution of the People's Liberation Army Navy's type 054A (Jiangkai II) class frigate, first launched in 2020. 

The new warship is not only the latest step in China's dramatic push to expand and modernize its fleet but is seen as a major jump in the capabilities of Chinese warships. Larger and more advanced than its predecessors, experts believe the Luohe is equipped with state-of-the-art stealth technology, enhanced firepower, and elevated combat systems, making it a critical piece in Beijing's ambitions to lock down the South China Sea. 

This development has major consequences for the United States and its ability to curb China's stranglehold on the Indo-Pacific. A new generation of frigates could raise the question of whether the United States is prepared to counteract China's increasingly aggressive geopolitical maneuvering in the region. It also posits a deeper, more philosophical query regarding the long-term direction of the U.S. Navy and its ability to keep pace in the ever-escalating naval arms race.

Launched two years after it was spotted under construction in Shanghai, the Luohe represents a major step for China. From images released by China's Ministry of National Defense, the Luohe is estimated to be about 50 feet longer than its predecessor, with a displacement of 5,000 tons. This larger hull lets the Luohe use bigger subsystems while also making it adept at carrying large helicopters like the Z-20, a key cog in China's submarine-defense strategy. 

The 054B also elevates the Chinese navy's stealth capabilities with radar avoidance and noise reduction. On the flip side, the ship sports two rotating active electronically scanned array radar systems that increase its surveillance prowess. Outfitted with state-of-the-art combat command and firepower integration, the Luohe touts an upgraded 100 mm naval gun, a 2x4 canister anti-ship missile system, and multiple close-in weapon systems, making this class of warships a formidable combatant capable of ground, water, anti-submarine, and air-defense warfare.

More important, however, is its 32-cell vertical launching missile system, which moves China's strike capabilities closer to its global rivals. Since such systems can launch attacks on sea, air, and ground targets, they're a typical measuring stick for gauging naval power, and analysts have long touted America's advantage in them as a pillar of U.S. naval superiority. However, in just 20 years, China's arsenal of these high-powered missile systems has grown from 1.5% of U.S. capabilities to just over half, with some experts predicting that Beijing will surpass Washington by 2027.

The Luohe's launch underscores a troubling trend for America's military: the Chinese navy is growing at a rate the U.S. cannot match. Compare, for instance, the Luohe's production timeline to America's newest class of frigate, the Constellation. Begun in 2022 (the same year as the Luohe), the Constellation's construction was largely a response to the failure of its predecessor, the Littoral Combat Ship, which some predicted wouldn't hold up in combat. However, after myriad setbacks the U.S. says the Constellation won't launch until at least 2029, with construction at a standstill. 

This half-decade difference reflects a larger trend in the race for the title of World's Greatest Navy. China has spent the better part of this century quickly modernizing its fleet. Nearly 70% of its warships were launched in the last 15 years, compared with only a fourth of American ships. In recent years, China has doubled its destroyers to 42, added eight cruisers, and built an armada of nearly 100 corvettes and frigates — numbers that dwarf America's additions. 

Even the U.S.'s vaunted aircraft carrier advantage is diminishing, with China building three carriers since 2012 — a number the U.S. Navy predicts will double by 2040. And although the U.S. plans to procure three more Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers by 2034, this doesn't guarantee the gap will remain wide. Already, the U.S. has announced that its next carrier, the new USS Enterprise, will be delivered 18 months later than expected. 

These trends reflect an American shipbuilding industry that has all but collapsed. Once the world leader in ship production, the U.S. now makes less than 1% of total commercial vessels, despite being the epicenter of maritime trade. China, meanwhile, accounts for over 50% of the world's commercial shipbuilding production. The speed of this change is striking, as China did just 5% of the world's ship manufacturing at the turn of the century. This gap is militarily important because China's prolific shipyards are dual-purpose, producing both commercial and naval vessels. 

Because much of China's naval modernization is financed by the profits this economic boom generates, much of it is directly funded by the nation's rivals. Roughly 64% of the business of China's largest shipbuilder, the state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation, is from foreign clients in places like the United States, France, and Japan. Even countries like Taiwan, whose existence is threatened by China's military buildup, depend on China-constructed vessels. The irony of this was painfully clear in 2021, when satellite images revealed that China State was building a Taiwanese freighter beside China's "unsinkable" Fujian aircraft carrier.

Members of Congress recently attempted to bridge this gap when they drafted the Shipbuilding and Harbor Infrastructure for Prosperity and Security for America Act this December. The bill, which aimed to increase the number of U.S.-flagged commercial vessels from 80 to 250, was an attempt to counteract China's dominance. Although it died with the last Congress, the intertwined nature of China's commercial and military shipbuilding apparatuses will make reducing America's commercial dependence on Chinese freighters a critical step to counteracting the near-exponential growth of China's fleet.

All this is not to say that the United States is in immediate danger of falling behind China in terms of total naval power. While China certainly has a larger fleet, which the Pentagon predicts will eclipse 400 vessels by the end of 2025, the prevailing logic holds that America's superior firepower will enable it to do more with less. 

However, recent developments are leading to questions about that logic. For instance, some doubt the usefulness of aircraft carriers in modern naval conflicts, particularly in the shallow coastal waters of the South China Sea, where maneuverability is at a premium. With the 054B's upgrades in firepower and stealth technology, the gap between the two navies may be narrowing, particularly when considering their utility in contested zones of the Taiwan Strait and the Scarborough Shoal in the Philippines. 

Before the Luohe's development, the perceived issue for Chinese naval prowess was that the shallow-water vessels in which it excels — frigates and corvettes — lacked the firepower to overwhelm its rival's more robust fleets. However, with the introduction of more advanced firepower and the certainty of disproportionate production (at least in the short term), the question becomes: at what point does China's amalgam of fleet numbers, firepower advancement, and strategic advantage in coastal waters begin to tilt the scales in the South China Sea in its favor?

The Luohe's launch further complicates the increasingly fraught Indo-Pacific geopolitical theater. Beijing's naval buildup is increasingly worrisome for U.S. allies like Taiwan, the Philippines, and Japan, who often find themselves at the center of territorial disputes over the region's straits and shoals. By introducing its new frigate, China has upped the ante in its push to control a maritime channel that hosts 64% of global trade.

This comes to a head as the Trump administration begins its new military strategy in the Asian Pacific, which has already stoked tensions in the region. This February, for example, the U.S. sent its first naval transit through the Taiwan Strait since the inauguration — to the sounds of protest from Beijing. The U.S. responded by removing from its State Department fact sheet the caveat that the U.S. does not support Taiwanese independence — escalating the tension between the governments. 

China responded with provocations of its own: sending warships (including the Luohe's predecessor) to orchestrate live-fire drills through Australian waters and compounding an already contentious dispute with the Philippines by demanding the removal of U.S. missile systems and instigating a near collision with a Filipino patrol plane.

With both U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping looking to set the geopolitical tone, the next few months of maritime posturing may foreshadow a critical four years for Sino-American relations. While only time will tell what role the Luohe will play in this naval song and dance, one thing is certain: the quest for naval supremacy, once considered a foregone conclusion, is just beginning.