China's Type 051C Destroyer Shenyang Seen With HQ-10 Replacing Russian S-300FM Air Defense

Recent imagery shows China's Type 051C destroyer Shenyang, hull number 115, on sea trials following an apparent air-defence refit that removed its Russian S-300FM long-range surface-to-air missile installation. The revised arrangement appears to feature multiple domestically produced HQ-10 short-range missile launchers, shifting the visible missile fit toward point defence against nearby aerial threats. Shenyang is the lead ship of the People's Liberation Army Navy's two-vessel Luzhou class, originally constructed around the Russian-derived area-defence system. The assessment is based on external imagery; the navy has not publicly confirmed the precise installation, missile inventory or any change in operational assignment.