Jiangnan is a modern shipyard. But it is not the look of the shipyard that counts, it is the quality of ships it produces that counts. Remember what Deng Xiaoping once said...it does not matter whether a cat is black or white...it is a good cat if it catches mice!
054/A FFG Thread II
- Thread starter tphuang
- Start date
No doubt with this one but I'm not saying one angle of one shipyard looks a bit messy (most shipyards around the world do anyway)... I was just commenting on the looks and know that doesn't necessarily translate to capability of the shipyard or the quality of its product. After all, 10 year old 054s that have been sailing to Africa, Australia, UK and around the world, have not had any quality issues. Some 30 year old warships in PLAN are getting mid life upgrades and refits lol like the Type 051C and 052. At most it's a matter for safety and efficiency of shipyard.
lcloo
Captain
Huangpu is located inside Pearl river delta, and it was established 160 years ago. Its present sites are surrounded by heaviliy populated area of Guangzhou city. land use is very much restricted. Equipment wise, they are not inferior to JNCX or HD shipyard.
The present site of Jiangnan shipyard in Shanghai was relocated around 2008 to sparsely populated Changxin island. JNCX benefited from the luxury of blanksheet modern planning and construction and more than adequate land use.
It seems the new batch of 054As have enlarged front windows, 5 in a row compared to 7 (old). Will be interesting to see how many more changes the new batch will make. Maybe change out the old type 364 fire control radar for the new arrayed one on 075. I doubt if the type 382 will be changed tho.
Nearly if not, half of the 054A are made in this small and messy place. So is a large fraction of the 056/056A fleet. This also includes much of the Chinese Coast Guard, MSA vessels, government oceanographic vessels, blue water tugboats, SURTASS and other sonar surveillance SWATHs, and so on. This is a remarkably productive place.
I have a feeling they are using the same windows from the 052D. This small minor detail will help streamline production.
What I find most interesting is that the mast is made of two modular parts. That makes it possible to say, replace the upper half mast with a brand new mast, let's say, that have integrated fixed phase arrays. The thing to watch out is any refit upper mast should match the weight and power usage of the old.
054A over the years have added new SATCOMs with minor refits. We should expect these SATCOMs to be installed right on the ship brand new. The 054 refit in the previous page did not show any radar upgrade, but it does have a new SATCOM.
The 054 refit appears to be using the 8x3 decoy launcher with a streamlined enclosed case from the 055, or at least from the way the protective covering is tightly wrapped around the device to suggest the shape of it. I won't be surprised if this 8x3 launcher becomes the new standard for new builds and refits, replacing the old 6x4 DLS used with the 054A.
Requisite in any refit are upgraded ESM and ECM units. To be straight, the last four 054A already had upgraded ESM and ECM units, the latter using the Type 726-3 ECM unit from the 052C/D, replacing the Type 751 ECM. The 726-3 ECM has become a standard requirement at some point, the Liaoning has it, the Shandong has it, the 051B and Sovremenny refits also have it, the 052 refits have it, and even the 053H3 refits. This points to a high level of confidence with this unit. The 054 refit also appears to be using this device from the way the covering wraps around it.
The Type 751 ESM was upgraded in the last batch of 054A with what appears to be another ESM set on top of it. The crown on top reminds of the Type 726-5 ESM used on the 056 family. The 054 refit also appears to be using this new version, and I would expect the upgraded 751 to be incorporated standard in all new builds.
The Type 364 radar, which is a PLAN favorite, might be going out for a replacement as suggested by the 075, so we take an eye on that. Its not replaced on the 054 refit however.
