I believe it may even go higher in order to replace the overall coastal coverage they had.
Not as many as the former vessels...these are far more capable and have greater endurance. But we may see 70 or more.
056 class FFL/corvette
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Not as many as the former vessels...these are far more capable and have greater endurance. But we may see 70 or more.
peterAustralia
New Member
A couple years back I put my estimate of type 56 corvettes that would be built at around 60. Still seems a reasonable figure, might be a bit higher.
I have a suspicion that rather than being an offensive weapon, it is a defensive weapon. The idea that these smaller craft can patrol a large area of coast, acting as an area denial weapon. The idea being to make life for enemy submarines, aircraft, and to some extent surface ships difficult to operate close to China's coastline. Working as a radar picket or as a sweep for submarines, the main idea would be to detect threats, and then call for backup. Given China's coastline, the amount of commercial shipping, more ships is better. Additionally if one gets sunk, it would not be a massive lost of presitge, say half the sailors get killed and half escape, that is only 30 KIA (not good if your one of the thirty, but not a nation shattering event)
After the 60 or 70 are built, will China then go for a larger model, say around 2500t
Will they need more than 70 if some ships are also needed for commercial shipping escort?
Does anyone else notice the similarity between the type 56 and the Sigma class corvettes?
I have a suspicion that rather than being an offensive weapon, it is a defensive weapon. The idea that these smaller craft can patrol a large area of coast, acting as an area denial weapon. The idea being to make life for enemy submarines, aircraft, and to some extent surface ships difficult to operate close to China's coastline. Working as a radar picket or as a sweep for submarines, the main idea would be to detect threats, and then call for backup. Given China's coastline, the amount of commercial shipping, more ships is better. Additionally if one gets sunk, it would not be a massive lost of presitge, say half the sailors get killed and half escape, that is only 30 KIA (not good if your one of the thirty, but not a nation shattering event)
After the 60 or 70 are built, will China then go for a larger model, say around 2500t
Will they need more than 70 if some ships are also needed for commercial shipping escort?
Does anyone else notice the similarity between the type 56 and the Sigma class corvettes?
I think calling weapons "offensive" or "defensive" is always a hard term to truly justify -- more accurate would be to describe a weapon in terms of where it can operate, and what kind of missions it would do.
But yes, in the case of 056, it is expected to conduct a variety of operations near China's own waters and likely within the first island chain at most, and their missions in the areas would differ depending on the intensity of a hypothetical conflict. Whether these missions would constitute "offensive" or "defensive" probably depends on the adversary, but even then the definition of the word would be up for debate.
Yes... that was noticed almost immediately when the first clear pictures of the completed 056 came out (and even before it, when we only got speculative CGIs).
That said, I think the greatest similarities between 056 and the Sigma class 9113 is their overall size, configuration and armament. The superficial similarity in deckhouse appearance is just that, superficial.
antiterror13
Brigadier
@peterAustralia ... I don't see the Chinese would need to move to a significantly larger model (as you mention 2,500 tonnes) ... perhaps a bit more lets say 1,800 tonnes to accomodate more sensors and weapons and better living condition for sailors ... also I'd expect more automations so it would need much less than 60-70 crews ... I thought 40 would be much better .. better living condition and longer range
Type 056 gives the PLAN exteremely good value ... cheap as not super modern and in mass, but good, modern and powerful enough for the job. Actually Type 056 is better than the majority of Navy vessels in the region (apart of USN, Japan and Korea) ... but heyy cheap to operate too
TYpe 056 will get incremental updates over time ... for sure.
Type 056 is an excellent light frigates for PLAN ... thats why I'd expect it will be built in big number ... perhaps ~80
Type 056 gives the PLAN exteremely good value ... cheap as not super modern and in mass, but good, modern and powerful enough for the job. Actually Type 056 is better than the majority of Navy vessels in the region (apart of USN, Japan and Korea) ... but heyy cheap to operate too
TYpe 056 will get incremental updates over time ... for sure.
Type 056 is an excellent light frigates for PLAN ... thats why I'd expect it will be built in big number ... perhaps ~80
joshuatree
Captain
The 056 in current form is a superior replacement to the 037s. While not a 1:1 replacement, there is still a need for a large number of these vessels to be able to fully decommission the remaining 037s. This will be priority #1 for the 056's role. So scales of economy and covering what is considered the primary requirements when this class was designed will remain in place.
Nice to haves like an enclosed hangar and more displacement will alter the economies of scale. This won't happen in my opinion until the 037s have been fully replaced and the 053H3s are due for replacement themselves. Because the 053H3s are essentially an 056 with enclosed hangar. By then, there may not even be a need for a direct replacement for the 053H3s as the 054A production seems to still keep going along with supposedly an 054A successor. Furthermore, if PLAN really wanted an 056 with an enclosed hangar, the P18 version already exists which meant they could have gone that route already if they wanted to.
I don't see the 056 class venturing beyond the 1st island chain boundary. The lack of a hangar for a helo to be assigned to each vessel will be compensated by land based assets. The AG600, in my opinion, will play a significant ASW role in this area.
I don't believe YJ-18s are even possible on a vessel with a draft of about 4m. What I've come to realize is that VLS on smaller displacement vessels provide a diminishing ROI. One can only load the tubes with shorter length missiles due to draft and stability concerns. The other limitation would be the lack of height to effectively use sensors that will guide the missiles. I believe any vessel in the 2000 ton range sporting VLS would be navies that have limited budget and size constraints so they try to get VLS at the minimal level.
The 056 is China's true Littoral Combat Vessel, designed and built to cover the PRC's vast littoral areas.
...and IMHO, they have done a GREAT job of producing an asset that could do that.
Plenty of land based helos to assist...and where not, they could easily task a 053H to a squadron of 2-3056s to allow its helo to service them.
Now, with that long coastline and the large areas within the 1st island chain, they will need a lot of them. That's why I believe the number may exceed 60 and go up to close to 80 such vessels.
...and IMHO, they have done a GREAT job of producing an asset that could do that.
Plenty of land based helos to assist...and where not, they could easily task a 053H to a squadron of 2-3056s to allow its helo to service them.
Now, with that long coastline and the large areas within the 1st island chain, they will need a lot of them. That's why I believe the number may exceed 60 and go up to close to 80 such vessels.
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