re: PLAN Type 052 Class Destroyer
Ship is wide enough to expand and get hangars for two helicopter. Is it b/c the the lack of helicopters in PLAN that they didn't do that?
I think its more a matter of doctrine, roles and ultimately the limitations of the basic 052 hull.
The 052Cs and even 052D are primarily AD ships, and will never be operating alone in war time. They have TAS and a helicopter capable of ASW, but their primary function in a battlegroup is not go chase after enemy subs.
Thus, there is no overwhelming need for each 052D to be able to perform 24/7 ASW ops independently. When they do perform ASW, it will be in cooperation with other friendly ships and air assets, so there is no need for the second helicopter. It would be nice to have that, but then other things would need to forgone to make room for that, which the PLAN obviously value more than the second helicopter.
And that brings us to the fact that it was already an astonishing feat that they managed to cram so much into the 052 hull as it is. The 052D design is as close to perfect a refinement of the 052 hull as it is reasonable to expect, and is right up there amongst the top in the world when it comes to how much firepower and function they managed to cram into the design tonnage wise and even beats out some significantly heavier ships.
If you want a second hanger, you will need to more onto a bigger hull design without having to give up some firepower or other functions of the ship to make room for it. And obviously the PLAN decided the trade off was not worth making.
