yuxiaochen
Junior Member
I have an off topic question: Since India's Kolkata Class destroyer and 052C/D are equipped with similar systems and designed for similar role, is it fair to compare both of them?
052C/052D Class Destroyers
- Thread starter Jeff Head
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antiterror13
Brigadier
comparing in what sense?
Tonnage wise, yes similar
Number of VLS and Anti-ship/Land-attack missiles, yes similar
Role, yes the same
Kolkata use a lot foreign systems, missiles, engine, etc .. so a bit tricky to make it works ad perhaps some restrictions and strings attached. Some maintenance works will have to be done by foreigners even could well be in foreign countries
052C/D : All are fully indigenous
Number to be built : Kolkata only 3, while 052C/D 18
It took 8 years for INS Kolkata from launched to commissioning
It took 052D 2 years from launched to commissioning
Virtually all destroyers with similar features and similar roles and relatively similar displacements can be compared with each other. 052C/D, Kolkata, Type 45, Horizon, Akizuki, Burke, Hobart and Bazan, Atago and Kongo, Sejong, to Ticonderoga, are all on a continuum.
I would compare 15A to 052C and 15B to 052D.
Both Navies took years to evaluate the new ships, India is slower but not that far behind.
The main disparity between the IN and PLAN (or IN and any other navy in the top ten, twenty), is the massive amount of time they take between cutting first steel and commissioning.
I would narrow it down even further.
On the programs that are problematic, it is many times between when they launch the vessel and when they commission it. They seem to be able to get the hulls out pretty reliably, but then get all messed up in the outfitting. And from what I have seen, this is mostly due to bad planning, poor project management, mission creep, and logistical issues.
As it is, the Project 15 Alpha will have three versus the Type 052 Charlie being six, and the Project 15 Bravo will be four versus the Type 052 Delta being twelve. That's seven versus eighteen.
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antiterror13
Brigadier
Sorry for O/T ..... it would be interesting to watch whether India or China would complete first all Project 15B (4 ships) and 052D (12 ships)? I think China would complete 12 052Ds first ....
Of course China will complete them first. The last of the P-15B is to be delivered in 2024 as by latest estimate. By that time China would be adding Type 055 in its fleet !!
Regarding the comparison..
I feel that MF-STAR is superior to the chinese naval radars.
MF STAR is a significantly smaller radar than Type 346, so naturally it is correspondingly less powerful.
Its small size allows it to be placed higher on the mast, giving kolkata a greater radar horizon for its main APAR, but of course, 052C and 052D have their own separate surface search radars and 055 is expected to have a new high mounted X band AESA to supplement its lower placed 346A.
Type 346 and MF STAR both operate in the S band, I believe.
Its small size allows it to be placed higher on the mast, giving kolkata a greater radar horizon for its main APAR, but of course, 052C and 052D have their own separate surface search radars and 055 is expected to have a new high mounted X band AESA to supplement its lower placed 346A.
Type 346 and MF STAR both operate in the S band, I believe.
OT: it seems like this is an issue caused by depending on imported parts from many different countries. If any of them is behind schedule, then the program is delayed. You also have to integrate them all together which isn't easy. Also, I get the sense (not sure if this is accurate), that Indian projects tend to have moving target in capability, when they probably would need to freeze design earlier to get them produced faster and on budget.
Back on topic: For the 052C/052D project, using mostly domestic parts or licensed production of foreign subsystems just give PLAN project planners more time/cost certainty. Also, the Chinese shipbuilders have pretty good project management from its successful civilian sector. That's why projects like 052C/D and 054A are a lot more on time than China's aircraft projects.