Related: That particular 052DL, i.e. 29th member of the class, has been launched today at Dalian. Posted by on Twitter.Seems like one of the three 052DLs currently under construction in the drydock at Dalian has been moved to the outer half of the drydock.
All three of the 052DLs were still in their original positions (in the inner half the drydock) at Dalian two weeks ago (when the latest-previous overhead satellite imagery is available), so I believe the move is made quite recently.
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That argument which suggests China was trying to keep prices low by not installing fire control equipment doesn't hold water anyway. Sensors and combat management systems are hugely expensive. They make the majority of the price. Just the Type 346 should be like $100+ million. Thinking that China would cut corners from damage control equipment to decrease prices by ~5% can be only explained by chauvinism.(Continued from last post...)
Moreover, based on additional footage I found, on the bulkhead opposite the torpedo launchers are hung personal protective equipment (PPE) used by firefighters. I guess Xavier (@XavNN) somehow managed to miss those as well.
Moral lesson don't invite any Western defense analyst except for our very owned @Deino.It's obvious at this point monsieur Xavier is trying to avoid coming clean. I mean just look at his Twitter activity(@navalnewscom), he mentioned that he will get back to this issue after dealing with some ' huge backlogs' at Naval News, but then somehow has time to post articles on newer naval developments AFTER he made the 'muh damage controls doesn't exist' claim. Why can't monsieur Xavier make time for this, but can for others? Hmmmm...
Moral lesson don't invite any Western defense analyst except for our very owned @Deino.