there is little reason to retire ships before their hulls and major subsystems (like propulsion) can't take it anymore. Which means we'll be seeing 053 class for some time, save for a possible garage sale to other agencies and countries. six 053h1g, comissioned mid 90s, are likely to remain is service by 2025 or so, if there's no sale to other users. Same with four 053h2g. ten 053h3, comissioned in late 90s so mid 2000s will likely serve to 2030, perhaps 2035.
Lets also keep in mind that by 2030 the sovremennys, 051b, 051c, song class, some kilos etc will be by most accounts old tech, in dire need for replacement.
i really wonder what will happen with sovremennys over time. they don't really fit, and as time progresses and their strong points diminish in the greater context of modernday PLAN, there will be less and less reasons for PLAN to keep them as they are, even if some are just 10 years old. I see a pretty thorough overhaul for them in store, with all the exsoviet systems changed with domestic systems. But that also might prove not so cost effective, especially cause of old propulsion which would be too expensive to replace. Perhaps we could see a sale of those sovs to someone else instead of mid life moderniation effort, which could happen within 5-10 years time.
