Mysterre
Banned Idiot
re: PLAN Type 052 Class Destroyer
This plaque is definitely not proof. Proof would be someone important flat out saying a VLA-type weapon is in service. That's proof. Or a photo of it coming out of a VLS tube. I would take that. This plaque says nothing more than "VLA launch-capable". Anything after that is your own assumption.
I disagree with none of what you just put in quotes. Nevertheless I disagree that this plaque constitutes proof of a sino-VLA being currently in service, and I have already detailed the reasons why.
By fairly significant, I don't mean a new screw design for the backup power generator. I mean it involves alot of people, a fair amount of money, and has similar 'pride valu to a SAM, which the PLAN also has no problem displaying to the world. By pride value, think of the J-20, something they could easily have reasons to hide, but instead they choose a place to test fly this thing where everybody and his mom could see it. By listing the CY-series and ASW Klub I mean that it should surprise no one that the PLAN already has the basics down for a VLA design, and that therefore the PLAN has no reason to hide a VL capability should it possess it already.
The HQ-16 has had multiple independent sources for the confirmation of its existence outside of any photos of it being launched, so the launch photos are nothing but icing on the cake. HQ-7 and HQ-10 are NOT external; their launchers are, but the missiles are not. The AESA is also not external. The TAS is also not external. The radomed radars are also not external. Yet we have seen photos of all of these. We have multiple sources talking about them along with the multiple photos. This is CLEARLY distinct from sources referring to the sino-VLA. Or the rather, the source. That plaque.
We will certainly eventually get photos, because I have little doubt that the PLAN wants to have a sino-VLA in their hands. The question is whether it has this capability now. For me, it is still open to debate. Apparently for you it is not.
All that this paragraph tells me is that you in fact recognize the paucity of confirmatory sources for a sino-VLA in contrast to every other PLAN weapon out there, and are wracking your brain to come up with reasons for why this is so. Yet somehow all this tongue-twisting doesn't even bring up a single shred of doubt in your mind whether this thing is currently in service? That plaque isn't the Ten Commandments, and it certainly doesn't say what you want it to say. There is no reason not to have a healthy dose of skepticism and a 'wait-and-see' attitude for the sino-VLS unless and until we have more evidence for it.
Nobody is denying the credibility of this sign, including me. On the other hand, "LOOK I HAVE THIS" is an ASSUMPTION you are making based on the sign, rather than what the sign actually says. I seriously cannot believe you are unable to make this distinction. One more time: "this VLS is capable of launching SAM's and ASW rockets" =/= "the PLAN has an ASW rocket in service"; the latter does not automatically follow from the former. It is merely a tantalizing piece of information suggesting the possibility of a sino-VLS, which like I said, needs some independent confirmation. Just like what we've already had with, oh, every other weapon the PLAN has in service. Otherwise this sign could be referring to nothing more than the designed-in capabilities of this particular VLS.
