Assuming that image indeed shows what people think it shows - well that was quick. 054 ship being at that stage of completion means that the order for new vessels must've been made at least 2 to, possibly, 3 years ago. But we've learned of the additional 054 ships being ordered/planned only weeks ago.
054/A FFG Thread II
- Thread starter tphuang
- Start date
I think within a year or so ago there were rumours that an additional 4 054As might be produced, but it was only in the last few weeks that we learned that the number of 054As to be built as part of the new order would be 20 total.
antiterror13
Brigadier
Weapon-systems-level upgrade of a ship won't give it a new type name, but attached an unofficially announced batch number.
Heard that the lengthen version of 052Ds weren't called 052DLs or DGs, but just 052Ds.
That image should be new. There is another image and the second image shows that sharing the same shed, on the adjacent space, an existing 054A getting overhauled, possibly being upgraded, with the number 573. Pictures of 054A getting their overhauls starting recently, or at least from 2019, so this isn't an old pic from Huangpu Shipyard with 054A coming out of the shed which there is so many in the past during the golden age of their production.
If the hull is already at this stage, I concur the that the decision to make this ship was probably a few years ago. Maybe the batch ordered was small, probably 4 to 5, like the last batch, and this order has been expanded to another 20.
They must have, but the proposal gets rejected and shows up as an export proposal for defense expo. Note the trimaran frigate on the back ground. Fair to say they tried but the brass didn't bite.
Getting a little out of topic now, the Houbei in the picture is worth following up in the future to see if there are any upgrades to it.
1, I've seen opinion that even for ROCN itself this is just as much about sunk costs as it is about capabilities at this point.
2, For modern PLAN missions and needs, 056A is a superior package. ROCN vessels are impressively armed(as are many other short ranged combatants), but they're -mission and -opponent specific.
3, 022s themselves are numerous, active and in service. That's quite enough for a niche capability, stuck in-between coastal missiles, maritime aviation and light frigates.