Someone who went on a 54A on an "open to public" day and shot a pic of the description of the VLS system and the description mentioned it contains both anti-air and anti-sub missiles. You'll have to dig it up in here or CDF
well that is an interesting point, if the capability is there that says it all I guess
overall Type 054A has been a huge success for the navy, in many regards, especially since it has been deployed to those Anti-piracy missions for best part of 5 years now
anti-piracy missions in my opinion was the biggest boost PLAN could ever get, they probably learnt more from those missions than anything they have done before, and the way in which PLAN tackled those mission is also noteworthy
I would like to think that those mission will shape the way in which PLAN operates for years to come, even spurring on into action the two new Type 903A replenishment tankers, the need for tankers was clearly exposed in those early days, while the two warships were on 3 month missions the replenishment tankers mainly the Weishanu were not replaced by other tankers and remained in the Gulf of Aden while the warships were relived on a regular basis, this could be due to a number of reasons but likely due to lack of tanker numbers
These days PLAN has much better co-ordination and logistical support, they can call in tankers from other fleets something that they didn’t do in those early days, even sending a replenishment tanker shows the commitment and priority PLAN puts on its image abroad, in those early days the Flotilla wouldn’t enter many foreign ports and would stay out at sea for prolonged periods of time, again for probably many reasons to “soften” the image for outside country’s not to mention that if any Chinese warship was ever attacked in port like USS Cole it was be a massive PR disaster for China so the emphasis on replenishment tankers for resupply of fuel, water, fresh food and other supplies was on
Many people don’t realise the importance these anti-piracy missions are, which is one reason PLAN keeps sending out these Flotillas even although the piracy has died down, it benefits PLAN in so many ways, moving onwards and to improve, China should learn to co-ordinate and sustain multiple Flotillas of warships in more than one theatre of operation simultaneously, this will really be a good test for PLAN and build on the anti-piracy missions
I know this maybe off topic but my point is anti-piracy impacted no doubt the production of Type 054A FFG and many other vessels, maybe i should post this in anti-piracy thread too!
