054/A FFG Thread II

[franco-russe]

Tphuang recently looked at the building time for Type 054A. There seems to enough evidence to provide quite accurate data for this.

An old post gave the scheduled keel-laying dates for Huangpu’s first two 054A (yard nos. 5402 and 5403). Accepting these dates as fact and adding the (amended) figures from the table in post # 826, we obtain the following picture:

Hull Laid down Launched Commissioned
HP 1 (530) 30.07.05 30.09.06 27.01.08
HP 2 (570) 10.01.06 18.03.07 13.05.08

HP 1 thus spent 14 months on the building ways and 16 fitting out (including sea trials), HP 2 also 14 months on the ways and 14 fitting out, or a total construction period of 30 and 28 months, respectively. This is good by any standards, Japanese shipyards spend about 3 years to build similar ships.

If anything, building times seem to be shorter. HP 4 (launched 17.11.09, commssioned 26.10.10) thus took only fitting out 11 months fitting out.

 

[tphuang]

btw, I'm just saying that I'm completely confused at this point. My guess is that the 5th one from HD shipyard has not been launched yet, but I have no explanation for the other photo.

 

[sealordlawrence]

I am in the same position, we will just have to wait and see.

 

[franco-russe]

I suspect we shall wait for HD 4 (549 CHANGZHOU) to departure for East Sea Fleet before seing the launch of HD 5. Have we ever seen two 054A at the fitting-out quay at the same time?

 

[asif iqbal]

if china is making so many Type 054As they must be happy with their performance, which engine does this frigate use?

 

[Totoro]

Tphuang, I read your blog entry, vey interesting stuff. But can anyone with certainty say hhq16 uses illuminators for only terminal guidance? I know chances are that is so, but i need proof of some sort, different equipment pointing to that and such. As far as i know, there is no visible difference between orekhs for sa-n-12 versions which are used only for terminal guidance and ones that guide the missile throughout its flight. Is that so?

 

[tphuang]

Tphuang, I read your blog entry, vey interesting stuff. But can anyone with certainty say hhq16 uses illuminators for only terminal guidance? I know chances are that is so, but i need proof of some sort, different equipment pointing to that and such. As far as i know, there is no visible difference between orekhs for sa-n-12 versions which are used only for terminal guidance and ones that guide the missile throughout its flight. Is that so?

I have no proof. It was based purely on my assumption that if they were designing a new missile like HQ-16, they'd go for something that's at least as good as 9M317. btw, something with SARH guidance like shtil is already out of date when we compare against new ARH missiles like SM-6 and Aster missiles. It's hard for me to imagine that PLAN would set their design for their new generation medium range SAM after something as old as 9M38 which still requires continuous guidance for the illuminators.

 

[A.Man]

This Is The New List Of 054 's & 054A's

 

[Twix101]

This Is The New List Of 054 's & 054A's

Hey A.Man, are you french ?

 

[franco-russe]

This list is basically the same as was presented by A. Man in his post # 694, updated with launch and commissioning dates plus recent observations.

The main changes are that a name is provided for 550, namely SIPING, which became available when JIANGHU IV 544 was renamed LUSHUN last July. Also, the order of 572 (now Hull 12) and 547 (now Hull 13) was inverted, probably reflecting that Hudong is running late compared to Huangpu.

As mentioned in my post # 830, I think that the other list produced by A. Man, which gives a different interpretation of Hulls 13-16, appears more likely to be exact. Time will tell...

I doubt that anyone familiar with French naval terminology (in fact, any naval terminology) would translate 支队 by régiment, when flotille is so much more appropriate – and naval. Also, trancons (I apologise for the missing cedille) is a misspelling for troncons.

It is also odd that neither ship nor yard names, fleets and flotillas have been translated, as the average French reader would hardly be able to understand the relevant Chinese characters.