056 class FFL/corvette

lcloo said:

A visit and a short cruise on 583

View attachment 8629View attachment 8630View attachment 8631View attachment 8632

Click to expand...

And they still using the Type 81 assault rifle?

Jeff Head said:

My last update to this table was in August. I expect perhaps two more have been launched by now, so that number could well be 17 vessels launched from five facilities in 17 months...and average of one per month.

Click to expand...

I do not think that more have been launched, we would have known. But I do expect HD5, HP5 and WC4 to launch before the end of the year.

588 is reportedly HD4. The first 10 are known, an educated guess is that the second 10 will be:

11 HP4 589

12 HD4 588 QUANZHOU

13 WC3 592

14 LN3 590

15 LN4 591

16 HP5 598

17 HD5 594

18 WC4 593

19 HP6 599

20 HD6 595

Type 056 is a great ship because it will free up the Type 054A and Type 052C/D DDG in littoral waters

Adding three Flotillas of Type 056 to each fleet would mean 12 units a peice or 36 total run plus we have HK garrison

Next year we might see Type 054A FFG run ending if they launch three more units that's 22 units plus two Type 054 is 24 to give 2 Flotillas to each fleet

That means a typical PLAN fleet will have

2 x DDG Flotillas
2 x FFG Flotillas
3 x Corvette Flotilas

Now they might expand the destroyer Flotilas to include atleast two heavy cruisers in each flotilla because I don't think they will form a entire new cruiser flotilla in each fleet around 4 x Type 055 CG that would mean 12 cruisers might be bit over the top

They might settle to build 6 x Type 055, but then 6 of such a advanced ship might not make economical sense so 12 could be possible I guess we will have to wait and see

The Fifth 056 of Hudong



Goodboy Video: The Launch of Hudong 5th 056

[video]http://www.56.com/u20/v_MTAxMDUzOTI5.html/1030_zcwshw.html[/video]

Note the previous photos and this one at the end. This is a new ASW variant.

How many of the total is this?

Anyone care to speculate what it could be? TAS?

joshuatree said:

Anyone care to speculate what it could be? TAS?

Click to expand...

I speculate yes with this new ASW focused variant.

joshuatree said:

Anyone care to speculate what it could be? TAS?

Click to expand...

I think it's probably beyond speculation that all those holes and doors in the back is likely for towed sonar equipment. Though this ship could be a prototype or test platform instead of new serial production variant.

What would be speculative is what kind of ASW weapons the ship would carry.

adeptitus said:

I think it's probably beyond speculation that all those holes and doors in the back is likely for towed sonar equipment. Though this ship could be a prototype or test platform instead of new serial production variant.

What would be speculative is what kind of ASW weapons the ship would carry.

Click to expand...

the opening looks about the same size as the one we see for the most recent 054A and 052D. It looks different than the opening we saw for earlier 054A and 052C