Last week, photos circulated on social media that indicate that the Chinese Navy is making progress in developing a new large-caliber gun for surface ships. According to Naval News, the picture shows a Type-910 class auxiliary vessel moored at a shipyard in Liaonan, south of Dalian. These vessels are used by the Chinese Navy as offshore test platforms to test the basic functions and operating parameters of various naval subsystems, including weapons.
The publication notes that a few years ago, the shipyard in Liaonan gained some fame. At that time, the main focus was on the construction of a new experimental warship the size of a corvette, which still remains at the enterprise. Liaonan mainly serves as a maintenance center for Chinese Navy ships. The shipyard's facilities allow for the docking and overhaul of almost all types of warships and auxiliary vessels, with the exception of the largest.
New shipboard artillery system on board the Type-910 test vessel, China
Naval News
"The new image does not reveal many additional details," states Naval News. – Visible features indicate a new tower design. The barrel, apparently, differs in configuration from both versions of the existing 130 mm naval gun H/ PJ-45, which is armed with the destroyers "Type-052D" and "Type-055".
Observers immediately linked the gun's appearance to the images from last year. The photos, which were distributed on social media in April 2025, showed a new large-caliber gun with a ship-mounted installation being transported on a truck platform. One of the pictures showed some technical specifications of the cargo, from which the observers concluded about the caliber and weight of the cannon: 155 mm and 21,800 kg.
New Ship's Artillery Piece, China / Presumably – 155 mm
Chinese social media
Specifications of the new ship's artillery, China
Chinese social media
Naval News points out that the gun, taken last year, and seen on board the Type-910 vessel look very similar.
The publication recalls that the Chinese navy has recently taken a number of steps to improve the ships' artillery armament. In particular, it should be noted the appearance of a new version of the 100-mm H/PJ-87 gun on the new generation frigate Type-054B.
The HP/J-87 installation was originally a modification of the French 100 mm cannon used on various older ships of the Chinese Navy. Later, Beijing adopted the 76-mm H/PJ-26 smaller-caliber cannon, based on the Russian AK-176M. This gun is installed on most Type-054A frigates and Type-056 corvettes.
Naval News suggests that the new large-caliber cannon is designed to replace the 130-mm H/PJ-45 cannon, based on the AK-130. The most likely use case may be the further development of the Type-052D line of destroyers, or a new modification of the Type-055 destroyers.
