Beijing is known for keeping quiet about its military hardware. But in footage aired on January 29, 2026, via CCTV, China’s main state broadcaster, the Yanan — a Type 055 guided-missile destroyer – was shown off in full display. The 27-minute clip showed the ship firing electronic jamming missiles during what was officially described as an encounter with foreign aircraft near Taiwan. Now, showing off military hardware in action publicly is unusual for China. But admitting to specific confrontations happening in those particular waters is even rarer.
Type 055s are roughly 11,000-ton warships that China officially classifies as guided-missile destroyers. They are one of the most advanced weapons in China’s military arsenal and are far from your average warships. Western analysts often bump their classification up to “cruiser” because of their sheer size and all the firepower packed into them. Each one of these carries 112 vertical launch cells loaded with a mix of surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles, and potentially even hypersonic weapons. They stretch to over 590 feet long and can hit 30 knots, which is fast for something that weighs about as much as a small office building. Fleet numbers are expanding rapidly, compared to those of the US Navy destroyers.
In the footage, the Yanan’s crew spots what appear to be multiple groups of aircraft shifting direction nearby. A sailor on watch calls out orders to prepare the starboard side, and from there, the ship cranks its radar systems up to high power, which effectively helps widen its search range. But the Yanan doesn’t just go it alone from that point on.
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Not a one-ship show
A Chinese Type 055 guided-missile destroyer launches a missile – CCTV
Before the Yanan actually fires anything, it calls in backup from the Shandong — one of China’s aircraft carriers. That ship sends three planes out to confirm what’s actually out there first. Only after that does the destroyer go ahead by launching four electronic jamming missiles. This coordination was further explained in the clip.
In it, a crew member, Wang Liang, pointed out in the broadcast that modern naval combat isn’t really about one ship doing everything anymore. Rather, it’s about how every system works together as a whole, across air and sea. Wang went further and framed the PLA Navy as operating on the front line of both conventional and what he called “invisible warfare.” Confrontations extend well beyond surface combat into air defense, anti-submarine operations, and electronic warfare all at once.
The footage was part of a series by CCTV, which had earlier broadcast footage of the Nanchang, another Type 055. This one was the first of its kind and launched back in June 2017. It was seen operating alongside the carrier Liaoning. In that specific clip, the Nanchang keeps changing course to physically block two foreign vessels from weaving their way through the carrier group’s formation. So in both cases, the Yanan and Nanchang aren’t just acting as standalone weapons platforms — they’re functioning as pieces of a much larger coordinated system.
The fleet behind all of this
A full fleet of Chinese ships and jets on display – CCTV
Those two ships are just a small part of what’s now the world’s largest navy. There are currently eight Type 055 destroyers in active service, and all of them were commissioned by 2023. Four of those are stationed with the North Sea Fleet out of Qingdao, and the other four operate under the South Sea Fleet from Zhanjiang, covering the contested South China Sea. A second batch is already being built at Chinese shipyards in both Dalian and Shanghai, with new ships expected to enter service sometime this year. Those newer ones reportedly come with upgraded power generation systems and improved weapons — including the YJ-20 hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missile, which was shown in a live test launch for the very first time in late 2025.
The timing of all this footage matters quite a bit, too. It dropped against a backdrop of growing tension around Taiwan. The US approved roughly $11.1 billion in arms sales to the island back in December, and Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi recently suggested that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo. Beijing has pushed back hard on both of those developments.
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Read the original article on SlashGear.