PLAN Combat Information Centers (CIC) and Display Consoles

by78

General
A glimpse of carrier Shandong's combat information center.

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SlothmanAllen

Junior Member
Registered Member
The last image reminds me of the Ticonderoga class CIC, with its four large 42 by 42 inches monitors;
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I really feel like those 80's CIC are unmatched in cool factor. All of those CRTs and totally custom computer equipment. I don't imagine it was possible to use commercial computer technology at the time, so most of that stuff was likely custom made. Almost all of the CICs you see today look like a high school computer lab lol.
 

by78

General
This is could be the CIC of a Type 055 or a Type 075 LHD. It doesn't match the CIC layout for any of the frigates, 052C/Ds, or 071s, nor does it match any of the carrier CICs.

That yellow wall makes me think this ship was built at Dalian shipyard, which would rule out this being a 075.

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Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
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Not sure if this has been posted.

This is from the display for export 052D showing its CIC, and we can observe a new three screen console design.

It's a bit different to the three screen design we've seen before, but I think it is additional evidence that they're moving in that direction.

The CIC depicted I think is probably not representative of all the consoles as part of the ships overall CIC elements, as the 052D we know keeps various weapons elements in partitioned adjacent rooms.

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by78

General
Not sure if this has been posted.

This is from the display for export 052D showing its CIC, and we can observe a new three screen console design.

It's a bit different to the three screen design we've seen before, but I think it is additional evidence that they're moving in that direction.

The CIC depicted I think is probably not representative of all the consoles as part of the ships overall CIC elements, as the 052D we know keeps various weapons elements in partitioned adjacent rooms.

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Nice find.

That console appears to be new. The displays are mounted on a crucifix arm, with the center display positioned higher than the flank ones. I haven't seen that arrangement and that crucifix arm before. I don't believe it's the same console as the one in the third image (if that's what you were implying).

Interestingly, the size of the CIC appears considerably more compact than that of the PLAN 052D. The width appears similar, but the depth has been cut significantly, by around a third perhaps.


A rough layout of 052D's CIC I gleaned from various footage:
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Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
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Registered Member
Nice find.

That console appears to be new. The displays are mounted on a crucifix arm, with the center display positioned higher than the flank ones. I haven't seen that arrangement and that crucifix arm before. I don't believe it's the same console as the one in the third image (if that's what you were implying).

Interestingly, the size of the CIC appears considerably more compact than that of the PLAN 052D. The width appears similar, but the depth has been cut significantly, by 30 to 40% perhaps.


A rough layout of 052D's CIC I gleaned from various footage:
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Yes, the console configuration is different to the picture we had of the trade show, which is what I meant by "It's a bit different to the three screen design we've seen before".

I would caution as to whether the CIC for the export 052D is showing the whole thing and how representative it actually is, I have a feeling it's sort of generic and configurable to customer needs.

But the fact that they show a three screen console, in addition to the other different three screen console we saw at the trade show before, means we can probably expect to see a three screen console configuration in the PLAN's future in one form or another.
 

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
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Apparently this is the console configuration for the Algerian 056-variant that they built.

Somewhat amusing that a one-off 056 variant for Algeria has a better console configuration than existing known PLAN ships. That said we have had indicators that they might adopt a horizontal triple screen console for themselves as well, so I suppose this export configuration is still encouraging.

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