054B/new generation frigate

taxiya

Brigadier
Registered Member
View attachment 173113
It seems the hull of both ships are already fully assembled but the one marked as "Hull 4" has a noticeably sharper bow compared to the confirmed 054B hull 3. It also seems ever so slightly longer than hull 3 as well.

So possibly something else?

As Blitzo suggested, hull 4 may have only reached deck level of the blue line, while hull 3 has finished weather deck at the bow (marked orange) which is wider.
054B luohe 20250122 (16).jpg
 
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Tomboy

Captain
Registered Member
So up to now, we can already see three ships in the second batch? Maybe the navy finally decided to let them build in large quantities like 054A after using it? ?
There's only 4 ships in the current order, all from 145 and none from 155. It still remains to seen if 054B will be procured in 155, if so tenders and orders should be coming out sometime this year. If not then it could be likely 054B is not a mass production ship.
 

Blitzo

General
Staff member
Super Moderator
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So up to now, we can already see three ships in the second batch? Maybe the navy finally decided to let them build in large quantities like 054A after using it? ?

There are going to be 50x 054A family ships for PLAN alone once all is said and done.
So being built in "large quantities like 054A" should be treated with a bit of caution as to what it actually implies.


For 054B, keeping in mind it is a frigate, I would say if they end up building 6-8 ships total before moving onto a successor class, then 054B would still be considered a transitory class (052C is guidance here). If they end up building a meaningful number more than that, then perhaps it can be viewed as a genuine mainline class of its own right.


Putting it another way, if they end up building "only" 6-8 ships, people should not get too excited, because it may still be a transitory class.
 

Blitzo

General
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Various USV related posts (and some UAV/swarming posts) moved to the USV thread.

Things have gone way too far off topic
 

TOKYO DRIFT ABC

Junior Member
Registered Member
I can get why China built tech demonstrators like the Type 052C and 054 20 yrs ago when it lacked tech confidence, but now that it’s already building advanced ships like the Type 052D and 055, if the 054B is indeed just a transitional design, why is there still a need for it?
 

taxiya

Brigadier
Registered Member
I can get why China built tech demonstrators like the Type 052C and 054 20 yrs ago when it lacked tech confidence, but now that it’s already building advanced ships like the Type 052D and 055, if the 054B is indeed just a transitional design, why is there still a need for it?
British building Type 45 with an unverified IEPS when it had a much longer history of naval engineering. That tells you that confidence has nothing to do with success. US EMALS is another lesson.
 

antiterror13

Brigadier
British building Type 45 with an unverified IEPS when it had a much longer history of naval engineering. That tells you that confidence has nothing to do with success. US EMALS is another lesson.
Thats true about British, but not in IEPS. I think they may have regretted it, so much problem. Because their IEPS is AC, while Chinese one is MVDC which is much better. I think China is very confident with MVDC IEPS, I can see it will be rolled out to everywhere in near future
 
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