joshuatree
Captain
Some are exactly there:
How many 054As have the smokestack and secondary mast in the same color scheme as the rest of the ship? I never paid detailed attention to that but I thought they all had the black scheme?
054/A FFG Thread II
- Thread starter tphuang
- Start date
How many 054As have the smokestack and secondary mast in the same color scheme as the rest of the ship? I never paid detailed attention to that but I thought they all had the black scheme?
by78
General
On second thought, my original observation was correct. The pennant number (579) was indeed painted higher on the bow:
This is basically what I hope an 054A successor looks like.
Have the new lantern mast, install the PJ-38 130mm gun, improve CIWS, fit the new CCL universal VLS, slightly stealthier overall configuration, twin hangars large enough to each hold a Z-20 and preferably a Z-18 for ASW duties.
That said I can't really see how many VLS there are -- I'd prefer 40 VLS at least, 32 for general use and 8 for dedicated standard AShM. I'm also not sure if this drawing is significantly larger than 5000 tons. If it approaches 6000 tons I'd be in favour of the same capabilities, a bit smaller.
I'm also not sure if there's need for a dedicated VSR aft, though if they can afford it without compromising other things on the frigate it would be welcome.
Have the new lantern mast, install the PJ-38 130mm gun, improve CIWS, fit the new CCL universal VLS, slightly stealthier overall configuration, twin hangars large enough to each hold a Z-20 and preferably a Z-18 for ASW duties.
That said I can't really see how many VLS there are -- I'd prefer 40 VLS at least, 32 for general use and 8 for dedicated standard AShM. I'm also not sure if this drawing is significantly larger than 5000 tons. If it approaches 6000 tons I'd be in favour of the same capabilities, a bit smaller.
I'm also not sure if there's need for a dedicated VSR aft, though if they can afford it without compromising other things on the frigate it would be welcome.
That's not quite the way it should work... All types of ships should seek to have capabilities which are competitive with the threats they will face.
For a frigate, that means maintaining a degree of competitiveness in anti surface warfare and anti air warfare (newer AShMs, SAMs, VLS) in a contested environment, and also anti submarine warfare (ASW helicopters, sonar suite, UUVs, ASW missiles like VLA).
The nature of ASW is quite different to AAW or ASuW, because in the latter two, the number of missiles matter significantly, and in AAW radar and other active sensors are also important (often expensive and heavy). So for good AAW and ASuW, the size of a ship is actually quite important. A smaller corvette simply cannot perform the AAW of a cruiser due to lack of space for sufficient SAMs or a large enough radar and combat management system, nor can it carry as many AShMs to attain the same ASuW capability of a cruiser.
But for ASW on most typical surface combatants, it's very much all about the ship's own sonar suite, and especially the capability of the one or two ASW helicopters they carry. A shipboard sonar suite can very much be effective in ASW without being massively large (for instance, many VDS and TAS can be fitted onto corvette or even FAC sized ships), and ASW helicopters are limited by size and the quality of their own sensors, datalinks, and onboard weapons.
Smaller surface ships may actually be better in ASW because one would be more willing to risk a smaller corvette or frigate playing tag with potentially small, old and low cost submarines (which are still potentially deadly, quiet and elusive) compared to a destroyer or cruiser.
So what I'm saying is that depending on a ship's mission (multirole frigate in this case), one can and should very much increase a ship's AAW and ASW capabilities to remain competitive, while also seeking competitive ASW capabilities.
The only way to increase ASW while "not pushing" other realms like AAW, ASuW, would be to cut out those capabilities almost entirely (such as not including VLS, not including any advanced radar, reducing AShM number), and use the increase in space and free displacement to redesign one's ship to maybe carry more or larger helicopters and larger sonar... however I think that would be a poor decision to make, and even the best surface ships ASW platforms today retain decent AAW and ASuW capabilities
I'm not suggesting increasing the number of VLS+AShMs substantially or at all, however 054A's air defence capabilities are not as modern or capable as they can be for a ship of its weight class: no quad packed SAMs; still using old SARH missiles; slow rotation PAR; no multirole VLS; last generation combat management system. This can and should be overhauled with more modern fixed or fast rotating APAR; use of the new CCL VLS (which will allow the deployment of the entire family of weapons developed for it from long range SAMs, LACMs, AShMs, VLA, quad packed SAMs); next generation combat management system, etc, to replace all the legacy systems on a near one to one basis that will provide immense increase of capability with minimum increased weight or consumption of internal volume.
054A's anti surface warfare capabilities could also use some tweaking, namely replacing the legacy YJ-83s with newer VLS launched missiles such as YJ-18. Replacing the 76mm gun with a more surface warfare oriented 130mm PJ-38 could also be considered, especially as it could be useful for NGFS.
All this I think can be achieved, along with greater and competitive ASW capabilities (twin ASW helicopters, larger sonar), on a hull slightly larger than 054A, while also having greater space for crew comfort and endurance.
duncanidaho
Junior Member
The text on left down corner of the image stated 6 x 8 (8 as chinese character).
antiterror13
Brigadier
48 CCL VLS would be ideal, I love the design