By Sun Fei, Wang Guanbiao, and Xu Linbo
QINGDAO, Aug. 15 -- The Sea Cup surface ship contest of the International Army Games (IAG) 2022 kicked off on August 15 in the waters near Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. The contest will last one week.
On August 14, the Chinese PLA Navy's guided-missile frigate Handan (Hull No. 579), command ship of the Sea Cup contest (Pacific section) set sail from a naval port in Qingdao to meet the corvette Gromkiy (Hull No. 335) from Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet, which came to Qingdao to participate in the contest. Guided by the frigate Handan, the Russian corvette entered China’s territorial waters and anchored at the designated anchorage.
The Chinese PLA Navy has dispatched its guided-missile frigate Linyi (Hull No. 547) to compete in the Sea Cup. The frigate, commissioned in 2012, owns a displacement of 4,300 tons at full load and possesses area air defense, anti-submarine and anti-ship combat capabilities. It ever carried out major missions such as escorting merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden, evacuating Chinese nationals from Yemen, and China-foreign joint training and exercises.
