re: PLAN Type 052 Class Destroyer
You gave what proof again? The plaque? Sorry, that's not proof. It is evidence in favor of a sino-VLS, like I said, it's better than nothing, but again, it says that it can launch an ASW rocket. That's all. One could easily take that to mean a latent (inherent) capability of the VLS as part of the PLAN's original design requirements. Which could mean nothing more than that the PLAN was thinking ahead. And when I refer to website/fansite, I'm talking about some big shrimp picking up on some officer/official interview or some military journal article or some whiff of rumor or ANYTHING else, that supports a deployed sino-VLS, and posting it online for people to read. Anybody know anything like that? Let's see it.
I'm sorry but if we cannot agree that this plaque is proof then I don't think we can agree on little else.
There has been speculation on such a weapon for years, tphuang made mention of it since the mid 2000s, the 054A sinodefence page (known for its conservativeness) even has a reference to it. This plaque confirms it. Tell you what, if an 054A ever visits where I live and I manage to get aboard for a visit, I'll make sure to ask around for a direct quote to confirm its existence for you.
For the rest of us, this plaque is more than enough.
In fact I'm not even sure where we disagree? What part of this statement do you disagree with "this plaque confirms the 054A VLS has capability to fire a rocket assisted VL ASW weapon"?
Seeing as how they didn't hide any of the other weapons for the PLAN, I don't see how you feel that logic is "distorted". We've got pages of photos for pretty much all of their weapons: guns, torpedoes, ASW rocket launchers, CIWS, HQ-7/9/10/16, as well as all of their electronics systems, including the AESA installed (and with its cover off) as well as articles about it. We've even got photos of their ships stringing out TAS in open ocean (obviously taken by the military rather than a fan), as well as photos of their TAS assemblies. So, remind me again why they should feel the need to "hide" this sino-VLS?
The logic was distorted because you first say the weapon seems to be fairly significant, and then it follows that PLAN therefore should feel no need to hide it because they've experimented with similar weapons before.
The fact that they have a massive freaking sign in front of the launch system with the words "rocket assisted torpedo" shows they are not hiding it. I don't think they are hiding it, but you do not need a great imagination to come up with a few possible reasons why they might want to (again -- they are NOT hiding it because they have that massive sign).
Out of all of the weapons you mentioned -- only HQ-9 and HQ-16 are viable comparisons for pictures (being VL weapons), and we've only recently begun getting pictures of HQ-16 being fired, and no pics of 054A being loaded with it at port. (guns, ciws, radars, "external" SAMs like HQ-7, HQ-10 are not comparable examples picture-wise, because their default positions aboard ships is on the outside whereas HQ-9, HQ-16 and this VL ASW weapon are all kept within launch tubes, unseen in default positions).
In due time we will get pictures of this thing, but again the reason we aren't getting any yet could be down to the fact that 054A's do not carry them often, the weapon only started mass production recently, or more likely, because of the inevitable delay between a weapon coming in service and a picture being released into the public sphere. A picture will be great to complement the confirmation which the plaque offers.
As for lack of articles, big shrimp references etc, that could be down to a whole lot of reasons from the possibility that this weapon is considered a priority for the PLAN and thus was careful of being leaked, or because the community considers a relatively less exciting naval weapon than SAMs, LACMs, guns, ciws and thus doesn't give it as much attention or anything in between.
It could be any reason.
But the fact is this plaque confirms 054A's VLS can fire a VL ASW weapon. I seriously cannot believe that you are denying the credibility of this sign which the PLAN is effectively slapping the community in the face with saying "LOOK I HAVE THIS," and you're actually asking for relatively more "dubious" sources such as big shrimps.
