SinoSoldier
Colonel
052D launching a VLS-borne YJ-18(A?). We have yet to see a CJ-10 launch.
052C/052D Class Destroyers
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
antiterror13
Brigadier
how can you tell that it was YJ-18A?
SinoSoldier
Colonel
Just going by what the buzz says. Its shape certainly doesn't match any other missile.
This also indirectly confirms that the 052D has strike-length missile tubes.
I think it's extremely unlikely that China would keep producing large numbers of 052D hulls after production of 055 has been launched. Despite a big difference in size, these ships clearly have a very similar role, as the both are multi-role general purpose destroyers, even more so than of any the older Chinese designs.
It might make some sense to continue producing the smaller (and cheaper) 052D along with the bigger 055 as a kind of hi/lo mix, but this doesn't make much sense because the 055 design seems to be much more advanced in terms of sensors, RCS reduction and even construction techniques, so it probably offers much more value for money, even if it's larger size makes it more expensive to produce.
Of course, it China could choose to develop "052E" that would integrate the advances of 055 design into the hull of 052D and, if they choose to continue producing 052 line, this is what they will almost certainly do.
On the other hand, producing a large frigate (that would be somewhere between 054A and 052D in terms of size and capacity) would, in my opinion, make much more sense.
I don't think this is likely, as the VLS cells are arranged in 2 by 4 modules and this layout
would mean that a module shares 9m and 7m cells (or there are "single row" 7m cell modules to the side).
Since the universal VLS features entirely self-contained cells with no need for a shared plenum, it doesn't matter that the bottom of the module is not equal. All that is needed is the proper structural support underneath.