Type-52 D class Destroyer Kunming ( Source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- 海防先锋) Source- The Diplomat Author- Franz Stefan-Gady The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) commissioned its second Type 052D Luyang III-class destroyer, the Yangsha, IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly reports. According to IHS Jane’s, the vessel was inducted into the PLAN’s South Sea Fleet in mid-July and will in all likelihood operate out of Yalong Bay naval base on Hainan Island. The first Type 052D Luyang III-class destroyer, Kunming, was launched in March 2014 and the Yangsha launched in July 2014. However, the vessel was commissioned a full 16 months after the Kunming, “suggesting an extensive program of trials,” according to the article. All in all, the PLAN plans to build a fleet of 12 Type 052D destroyers–nicknamed “Chinese Aegis”–before shifting production to the newer Type 055D multi-role cruiser. IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly further notes that “[e]arlier in July, the seventh