054/A FFG Thread II

[Tam]

They should have a backup OTH RF link, akin to Link 11?

What I mean is they communicate directly to satellites, and from there its relayed downward to other ships, aircraft, UAVs and land stations.

When the class first appeared, there are two kinds of SATCOMs onboard the ships. Today, there is about four kinds. What interests me is one that has a circular, not a globular appearance, and this is a pivoting flat panel as in phase array antenna. This is obviously a high speed digital data link. These below are civilian examples.



You see these in the right corners, much bigger than the civilian samples. They are not the primary subjects of the pictures and its easy not to pay attention to them.



And you see it in many ships too, like the ASW oriented Type 056A right there on top of the bridge.




Another thing that is a mystery to me is that you have the VDS bay door port at the back of the Type 054A and the Type 052D, but there is an identical door at the aft port or starboard side of both ships. Curious. Is this for another VDS? There are a few pictures I have seen this bay door open but its from a distance to ascertain what is in it.

 

[Tam]

VDS ports on the ship.




On this ship there is another door on the side. I'm curious. I think this is a 052D. ? should be Towed Acoustic Decoy.

 

[para80]

Dont think we have had this in thread before, but two new 054A hulls laid down at Hudong after the dock flushed out the third 075 for PLAN and second 054AP for Pakistan. Logically these could be the third and fourth hulls for Pakistan also but I guess its possible they may now join Huangpu for the new PLAN-batch? In any case I find it quite remarkable how quickly that hull on the right especially has come together since launching the previous builds. Source for shots is @Fbi6fgjRl130q4U on Twitter.

 

[Blitzo]

Dont think we have had this in thread before, but two new 054A hulls laid down at Hudong after the dock flushed out the third 075 for PLAN and second 054AP for Pakistan. Logically these could be the third and fourth hulls for Pakistan also but I guess its possible they may now join Huangpu for the new PLAN-batch? In any case I find it quite remarkable how quickly that hull on the right especially has come together since launching the previous builds. Source for shots is @Fbi6fgjRl130q4U on Twitter.



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I suspect these two hulls are for Pakistan.

It was said a while back that out of the 20 new order 054As for the PLAN, HP would be building 12 while HD would be building 8, so that both would be building a total of 12 054As (when including the 4 054APs that HD is building for Pakistan).
It sounds like a realistic and fair argument to me, but we'll see.

As for these two 054A hulls in the picture, we had pictures of them sitting there alongside the drydock when 075 unit 3 was launched a few weeks back, and they looked pretty much ready to lay down and assemble in the drydock.

Putting them into the drydock and welding them together is a relatively simple process, I wouldn't be surprised if the one on the left side of the picture looks like the right one in a week or two.

 

[Andy1974]

Dont think we have had this in thread before, but two new 054A hulls laid down at Hudong after the dock flushed out the third 075 for PLAN and second 054AP for Pakistan. Logically these could be the third and fourth hulls for Pakistan also but I guess its possible they may now join Huangpu for the new PLAN-batch? In any case I find it quite remarkable how quickly that hull on the right especially has come together since launching the previous builds. Source for shots is @Fbi6fgjRl130q4U on Twitter.



View attachment 68810

Do those 2 sections above the 075 belong to the left most 054A? No wonder these get built quickly, so few pieces to them.

 

[SidneySwisher]

Do those 2 sections above the 075 belong to the left most 054A? No wonder these get built quickly, so few pieces to them.

Haha, You right

 

[xyqq]

054A FFG 601 Nantong from a distance:



Firing its CIWS:

 

[steve_rolfe]

I saw this on the internet earlier this week referring to the new build of Frigates for the PLAN........don't know if there is any truth in it, but it does raise one or two interesting aspects.

"Back in 2018 it was rumoured that 054B was planned, but in 2019, another rumour came out that the 054B has been delayed a bit due to its one crucial handicap, that is, its speed is too slow to keep up with the carrier fleet. And then in 2020 there was a conflicting rumour that another batch of 054 was going to be built, some say it would be the same 054A but others claimed it would be the newer version. Then it was said that the order was for 054A. Then the news broke, back in December 2020, that the new, much higher efficient version of vessel propulsion engine has been developed and tested. Then on January, another rumour emerged which says that China is on the process to convert its surface fleet to pump jet, instead of propeller, using electrical pumps, instead of the old piston and crankshaft version. It was rumoured that the 3rd 075 vessel was built as the first trial, using this concept, then followed by the new batch of 054 would be 054Bs, based on the same technology, which, reportedly, can travel much faster and quieter than ever before. It was also rumoured that using this new design, more rooms would be made available inside the vessel, that would mean more places for missiles and other compartments".

 

[xyqq]

In the anti-submarine command post of FFG-529 Zhoushan under its bow deck (as revealed by the side panel), the sonar operator with headphones was continuously reporting the movement of an unknown underwater target to the mission commander (@央广军事):



Semaphoring:



Pulling the rope together. The character 狼 (wolf) on one life jacket probably indicates its owner's nickname.

 

[Akame]

No new FFG project?