Joint military exercice with Chinese and Egyptian navies.

On Monday, the guided-missile destroyer Xi'an (Hull 153) attached to the 32nd escort taskforce of the Chinese PLA Navy conducted a joint exercise with the Egyptian navy ship Arafat on the waters of the north of Alexandria.

Destroyer Xi'an (Hull 153) of the naval forces of China (Picture source: TASS)

Based on the exercise scenario, while the Chinese navy ship Xi'an (Hull 153) departed the wharf at about 11 a.m., two Egyptian dinghies simulated “suspicious small dinghies” to approach it at a high speed, which marked the commencement of the joint anti-terrorism military exercise.

During the joint exercise, Chinese ship Xi'an and Egyptian ship Arafat conducted drills such as formation alternation, flashing light signalling, helicopter deck landing, special operations soldiers fast-roping, temporary inspection, visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) operations, as well as replenishment-at-sea. At about 6 p.m., the Chinese guided-missile destroyer Xi’an bid farewell to its Egyptian counterpart and departed from the exercise area.

Throughout the process, both ships took their turn to serve as the commanding ship and the two navies cross-dispatched observers. According to a commander officer of the 32nd escort taskforce, this exercise further improved the coordination ability between the Chinese naval ship and its Egyptian counterpart and deepened mutual trust and cooperation between the two navies.

The Displacement of 6600 tons, hull length – 153 meters, width – 16.5 meters. The Xi'an destroyer has a combined diesel-gas turbine power plant which can reach the speed of 30 knots. Cruising range – 14000 miles. The crew of 250 people. The Main armament - 48 anti-aircraft missiles HQ-9 (naval modification of the Chinese equivalent of the s-300) and anti-ship missiles 8 YJ-62. It is also armed with 100-mm gun mount and antiaircraft artillery systems.