Japan’s Joint Staff Office announced May 26 that the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Liaoning carrier strike group is operating in the Philippine Sea with the newly commissioned Type 054B guided-missile frigate Luohe (545), marking the Jiangkai III-class frigate’s first confirmed deployment within a carrier formation beyond the first island chain.
The formation was detected May 25 approximately 547 miles (880 km) southwest of Okinotorishima, Japan’s southernmost island. Alongside aircraft carrier Liaoning (CV-16), the group comprises Type 055 Renhai-class large destroyer Wuxi (104), Type 052D Luyang III-class guided-missile destroyer Kaifeng (124), and fast combat support ship Hulunhu (901).
China has placed its carrier strike group in the Philippine Sea.
CSG Composition:
• Aircraft carrier- Liaoning
• Type 055 guided-missile destroyer- Wuxi
• Type 052DL guided-missile destroyer- Kaifeng
• Type 054B guided-missile frigate- Luohe
• Type 901- Hulunhu pic.twitter.com/nnM1OdBDtK— Nepal Correspondence (@NepCorres) May 27, 2026
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) destroyer JS Asahi (DD-119) shadowed the formation throughout the deployment. Fixed-wing and rotary-wing flight operations from Liaoning’s flight deck were confirmed on May 26.
The Luohe and Hulunhu first transited the Miyako Strait on May 19, heading southeast into the Pacific. That movement marked the Type 054B’s first recorded passage beyond the first island chain, the arc of islands running from Japan through Taiwan to the Philippines.
The PLAN announced the departure on May 19 as “routine training” covering far-seas tactical flight, live firing, support, and rescue operations.
On May 19, the PLA Navy sent a carrier task group led by PLANS Liaoning to relevant waters of the Western Pacific to conduct training on such subjects as far-seas tactical flight, live firing, support and cover, and integrated search and rescue, so as to test and enhance the… pic.twitter.com/AKB1j7xBXI
— ChinaNavy (@China_Navy) May 19, 2026
Zhang Junshe, a military affairs expert, told Global Times the Type 054B and Type 055 form a complementary pairing within the carrier group, with the Type 055 managing long-range air defense and the Type 054B focused on anti-submarine warfare and outer escort duties.
The Luohe commissioned in January 2025. Its integration into a carrier strike group operation just 16 months later comes as Japan’s Defense Ministry established a Pacific Defense Architecture Office on April 1, 2026, in direct response to escalating PLAN carrier activity east of the first island chain.
In December 2025, PLAN J-15 carrier fighters locked fire-control radar on Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) F-15s southeast of Okinawa during a previous Liaoning Pacific deployment, drawing a formal Tokyo protest.
