The 1990s PLAN was professional but poorly equipped. In the 1994 Yellow Sea encounter, S-3B Vikings from USS Kitty Hawk's group detected and tracked a noisy Han-class submarine at long range. J-6 fighters sent to drive the American aircraft away failed to free the submarine from that pressure. The incident exposed how little effective air support China could provide. Modern domestically built destroyers later became visible instruments of surface power, status, and deterrence.
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From the Yellow Sea low point to destroyer power
The 1994 Yellow Sea incident frames how far the PLAN had to travel before destroyers became its clearest instruments of surface power.