054/A FFG Thread II
- Thread starter tphuang
- Start date
franco-russe
Senior Member
Yes, the USN has built BURKE class at a rate of two per year since 2006, but future orders are less than that, alternating one and two per year.
Two. Bath Iron Works in Maine and Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi.
The PLAN, if they continue for very long,are on track to do a similar production run (in terms of vessels per year, but probably not in terms of total vessels) with the Type 054A. The first Burke was commissioned in July 1991. Now here it is 20 years later and they will be commissioning the 61st vessel. That is an astounding average of three vessels per year over the twenty year period. Highly advanced, very sophisticated and large vessels, 8,300 tons initial flight, to 9,200 tons flight iia.
It is probable that a crusier sized flight iii and flight iv will ultimatley be developed stretching procurement out another twenty years. Those will be much larger and more capable than the initial flight, but there are plans to modernize those as well.
One can't simply compare the production rate of PLAN destroyer/FFG runs vs USN's AB's rate.
Ingalls and Bath's turns out 2/year each and that;s taken their substantial production capacity.
while HP, JN, HD, and DaLian only dedicate a (I would say small) part of their capacity to build naval vessels.
rests of capacity are for high value added commercial ships like VLCC, LNG carriers and Oil platforms etc. which are no less complex than destroyers.
they are all big and profitable commerical yards.
now if HD, JN, HP would devote a higher percentage of their capacity to building destroyers. and may be some other "smaller" yards would get in the action also, I believe at least in rate China would have no problem matching US rates.
How fast they were putting together the 022 productions runs in their secondary yards is an indication of that potential capacity.
Now the first type 056 is laid down, we shall see how many of these secondary yards will get into action.
rumor has it that many of the contractors are smaller yards the productions runs is about as twice as big as 054's . we shall see.
Ingalls and Bath's turns out 2/year each and that;s taken their substantial production capacity.
while HP, JN, HD, and DaLian only dedicate a (I would say small) part of their capacity to build naval vessels.
rests of capacity are for high value added commercial ships like VLCC, LNG carriers and Oil platforms etc. which are no less complex than destroyers.
they are all big and profitable commerical yards.
now if HD, JN, HP would devote a higher percentage of their capacity to building destroyers. and may be some other "smaller" yards would get in the action also, I believe at least in rate China would have no problem matching US rates.
How fast they were putting together the 022 productions runs in their secondary yards is an indication of that potential capacity.
Now the first type 056 is laid down, we shall see how many of these secondary yards will get into action.
rumor has it that many of the contractors are smaller yards the productions runs is about as twice as big as 054's . we shall see.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
Indeed, it is quite a remarkable record and achievement, which made me think the US had more yards working on the ABs. Hats off to those guys for such a fine job over such a long period!
Personally, I would be amazed if the 054A production run lasts for 30 vessels. Although there is a chance that that might happen if they bring out a bigger, more capable 054B and that is still counted as part of the 054 production run.
I think they have gone nearly as far as they can go with the 054A design and displacement. They might squeeze out an 054B with some added capabilities and refinements, most notably in the radar and ASW departments, or even a dedicated ASW version of the 054, but to get a truly worthwhile improvement, they will probably have to move up in weight class. But that will make the new class overlap somewhat with the 052Cs, in which case, they might as well just build more 052Cs and design a heavier, destroyer or even cruiser class as the new top end. But we are probably talking over a decade for that kind of development, and there are just too many factors to consider to be able to make any sort of reliable predictions that far into the future.
asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
US has had a massive industrial base in shipbuilding going back decades, they were making a destroyer every 3 days during WWII, if US has any advantage its the industrial base capacity, they can always rely on the industry to get down to work to build better, faster and cheaper, that has always been US biggest strenght, now 2nd only to China
China is new to building massive ships like the 20,000 ton LPDs etc there i no doubt that in 10 years time China will have the capacity to build more ships faster than US if it wants, look how fast these 2 LPDs rolled off
also at this point and time PLAN is still in experimental stage trying and testing new things, there is simply no need to go all out, so in that sense theres not much of a comparison between US naval shipbuildng and China, they are both in different stages and different goals, however the civilian sectors are in comparison and we all know the score there, CSIC is worlds largest shipbuilder can make 300,000 ton vessals in breakneck speed
China is new to building massive ships like the 20,000 ton LPDs etc there i no doubt that in 10 years time China will have the capacity to build more ships faster than US if it wants, look how fast these 2 LPDs rolled off
also at this point and time PLAN is still in experimental stage trying and testing new things, there is simply no need to go all out, so in that sense theres not much of a comparison between US naval shipbuildng and China, they are both in different stages and different goals, however the civilian sectors are in comparison and we all know the score there, CSIC is worlds largest shipbuilder can make 300,000 ton vessals in breakneck speed
I believe the Type054A will run a little further...who knows how long, and who knows what changes they will make. But it is indicative of the trend in the PLAN's building capability. Hats off to them for prodicung these capable, mulit-role FFGs so quickly.
More 52Cs are being built as we speak, and more 071 LPDs. All are strong combatants in their roles and mark a significant improvement for the PLAN.
There is talk of a total of 75 Burkes now, the last 10 or so being a bridge cruiser design in excess of 10,000 tons in displacement. We're anxious to see what that design might hold if they go through with it.