Long March 5
The Long March 5 is China’s new-generation heavy-lift orbital launch system, designed to loft space station modules, lunar and Mars probes, and heavy communications satellites into orbit. The launch...
View ArticleJiuquan Satellite Launch Centre
The Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre (JSLC), which first became operational in 1960, is China’s oldest missile test and space centre. It has been used for all of China’s human spaceflight missions since...
View ArticleXichang Satellite Launch Centre
The Xichang Satellite Launch Centre (XSLC) is China’s spaceport for Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) and lunar missions. First becoming operational in April 1984, the launch centre has supported the...
View ArticleTaiyuan Satellite Launch Centre
The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre (TSLC), which became operational in the late 1960s, is China’s primary ballistic missile test centre and also serves as an orbital launch facility for satellite...
View ArticleWenchang Space Launch Centre
The Wenchang Space Launch Centre (WSLC) is China’s fourth and newest portal to space, capable of supporting the next-generation CZ-5 and CZ-7 launch vehicles. Becoming operational in 2016, the...
View ArticleShuguang (Project 714)
China initiated a highly secretive project to send a crewed mission to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in 1971. Under the programme, candidates were selected to receive astronaut training, and a two-seat crew...
View ArticleLong March 11
The Long March 11 is a four-stage, solid-propellant, small-load launch vehicle, capable of placing up to 350 kg payload to 700 km SSO, or up to 700 kg to LEO. The launcher has been designed with...
View ArticleShenzhou (Project 921-I)
China officially embarked on a human spaceflight programme (Project 921) in 1992, with the goal of constructing a permanently-occupied space station on LEO. The first phase of the programme run between...
View ArticleShenzhou Spacecraft
The Shenzhou is a capsule-type, non-reusable spacecraft vehicle designed to carry up to three astronauts for a solo orbital flight of up to 7 days, or to ferry them to the space station and then return...
View ArticleType 051 Luda Class
The Type 051 (NATO code name: Luda class) is China’s first independently developed missile destroyer, with 17 hulls built between 1970 and 1991 for the PLA Navy. Decommission of the destroyer began in...
View ArticleType 052 Luhu Class
The Type 052 (Luhu class) is a multirole missile destroyer introduced in the early 1990s for the PLA Navy, with two hulls constructed. The destroyers served as a platform to experiment with the various...
View ArticleType 051B Luhai Class
Type 051B (Luhai class) is the multirole missile destroyer introduced in 1999, with only one hull ever constructed. The first-of-class Shenzhen (167) was the largest surface combatant ever commissioned...
View ArticleType 051C Luzhou Class
The Type 051C (Luzhou class) is an air-defence guided missile destroyer, utilising the Russian S-300FM air defence missile system controlled by the ‘Tomb Stone’ 3D phased-array radar. Only two hulls...
View ArticleProject 956 Sovremenny Class
China acquired two unfinished ex-Russian Navy Project 956 Sovremenny class destroyers in 1996 and received them in 1999 and 2000. These were followed the order for two newly-built Project 956EM...
View ArticleType 052B Luyang Class
The Type 052B (Luyang class) is a multirole missile destroyer built by the Shanghai-based Jiangnan Shipyard for the PLA Navy, with two hulls built. The destroyer has demonstrated the successful...
View ArticleType 052C Luyang-II Class
Nicknamed ‘Chinese Aegis’, the Type 052C (Luyang-II class) destroyers are the first truly multirole and highly capable, modern indigenous destroyers introduced by the PLA Navy. With a multifunctional...
View ArticleType 052D Luyang-III Class
First introduced into PLA Navy service in 2014, the Type 052D (NATO code name: Luyang-III class) is the latest variant of the Type 052 destroyer family, featuring a number of changes in weapon system...
View ArticleType 055 Renhai Class
The Type 055 is a new class of multirole missile destroyer (DDG) currently under construction for the PLA Navy. The U.S. DoD has referred to the vessel as ‘Renhai’ class and classified it as a missile...
View ArticleType 053H3 Jiangwei-II Class
The Type 053H3 (Jiangwei-II class) is the multirole missile frigate introduced in the 1990s as a follow-on to the Type 053H2G (Jiangwei class). Despite being known as a ‘multirole’ frigate, the Type...
View ArticleType 054 Jiangkai Class
The Type 054 (Jiangkai class) multirole missile frigates were introduced by the PLA Navy in 2005. This class was primarily intended to validate the hull design of a new generation frigate, but still...
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