I admit that I know little about navy and made a wrong assumption about urgency.??? You are making some assumptions out of the blue about "high urgency" which for anyone who actually follows the Navy's development would see as plainly inaccurate.
The 054A has been around for two decades and with 40 in sevice and more hulls being built for the Coast Guard what urgency do you possibly see?
Most frigate classes world-wide are built in single digits. Successful ones might go a dozen.
The 054A has had a long and successful production run in the Navy (and is still having in the CG.) The 054B is a simple progression that is faster with more room for upgrade and endurance to allow for better deployment with carrier groups which when the 054A came out was not really a requirement.
But Isn't 20 years in service life short for a naval vessel ? Given the cost of each ship.
Am I wrong in thinking that 054B is a replacement program for 054A ? if is a replacement program then isn't it early retirement for the 054A ?