The 6,000-ton vessel, named Kaiyangxing, is the fourth of the Dongdiao class to be commissioned in the last two years, and was built at Shanghai’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard.
Six Dongdiao ships are currently in service with PLAN, the first commissioned in 1999. They are classified as Type 815A, though each subsequent vessel had adjustments made for mass and structure.
5th Type 815A electronic surveillance ship Kaiyangxing(856) was commissoned into the NSF today at Qingdao naval port.https://t.co/WS0jNOvs3Q pic.twitter.com/69v0U17hqB— dafeng cao (@xinfengcao) January 10, 2017
The ships are evenly distributed among the North, East and South Sea PLAN fleets according to Janes.
The ships' spherical domes, which possibly shield dish antennas that collect and intercept radio signals, gives the vessels a distinct profile. The Kaiyangxing differs in that it has a cylindrical radome with a flat top above the bridge.
This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.