056 class FFL/corvette
- Thread starter dingyibvs
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These are changes made to the ship as the line progresses by.
You have the original Type 056.
Then you have the 056A which adds the door at the back for the VDS, along with a thicker roof above the bridge, possibly for infrastructure for adding stuff on top.
The rest is minor until you get to the bottom.
The final model shows changes to the SATCOMs, a change in the ESM unit like there is something added on top of it which has two panels, and the 30mm guns on both sides were changed to 14mm machineguns. Most importantly there is something added on top of the bridge, a dome which looks like this that may house a phase array used for digital communication. I am not sure what it communicates on the other end of it, but it may not be just satellites, but aircraft, helicopters and UAVs. Though the antenna shown below is an on the move flat phase array used as a SATCOM for satellite TV with RVs and motorhomes in China (yes there is an RV industry and market in China) the new antenna on top of the 056A final batch looks like that though I highly doubt its for adding satellite TV unless the TV is for a more military use in nature. These antennas have also been retrofitted on Type 054A, Type 052C and Type 052D so there is something going on that makes this addition important. The thicker roof design seen on the 056A may have been in prepartion for this array, and it will likely be retrofitted on previous 056A. On the 056 without the thicker roof, the array maybe retrofitted on the rear between the two SATCOMs behind the funnel.
So while the final batch has a downgrade on the auxiliary guns, there are upgrades on the communication and EW side of things that improves the ship's networkability and survivebility.
You have the original Type 056.
Then you have the 056A which adds the door at the back for the VDS, along with a thicker roof above the bridge, possibly for infrastructure for adding stuff on top.
The rest is minor until you get to the bottom.
The final model shows changes to the SATCOMs, a change in the ESM unit like there is something added on top of it which has two panels, and the 30mm guns on both sides were changed to 14mm machineguns. Most importantly there is something added on top of the bridge, a dome which looks like this that may house a phase array used for digital communication. I am not sure what it communicates on the other end of it, but it may not be just satellites, but aircraft, helicopters and UAVs. Though the antenna shown below is an on the move flat phase array used as a SATCOM for satellite TV with RVs and motorhomes in China (yes there is an RV industry and market in China) the new antenna on top of the 056A final batch looks like that though I highly doubt its for adding satellite TV unless the TV is for a more military use in nature. These antennas have also been retrofitted on Type 054A, Type 052C and Type 052D so there is something going on that makes this addition important. The thicker roof design seen on the 056A may have been in prepartion for this array, and it will likely be retrofitted on previous 056A. On the 056 without the thicker roof, the array maybe retrofitted on the rear between the two SATCOMs behind the funnel.
So while the final batch has a downgrade on the auxiliary guns, there are upgrades on the communication and EW side of things that improves the ship's networkability and survivebility.
Last edited:
Lethe
Captain
I think four anti-ship missiles would be acceptable given that these ships will likely be operating in groups. The issue is that those launchers are also used to house Yu-11 rocket torpedoes that are directly related to 056A's ASW role. Four cells doesn't seem nearly enough for both munition types.
They might as well have just built more modernized 053H3/F22P if that's the case, which gives you a better close range air defense and a helicopter hanger right along with it. Replace the twin 100mm gun turret with the 76mm.
Lethe
Captain
This doesn't make any sense. F-22P is twice the size of 056 with three times the crew, it is in an entirely different category. We are talking about adding (realistically) an additional four missile cells representing <1% additional displacement and requiring no additional crew but significantly enhancing the currently rather limited ability of the type to prosecute surface and sub-surface threats by allowing it to carry more than 2+2 YJ-83/Yu-11.
I do believe that PLAN could use a modern 2500-3000 ton light frigate as an affordable yet high-performance littoral ASW platform. But the merits of such a vessel are unrelated to the question of whether 056/A should be armed so as to be able to adequately serve in its assigned roles.
Crew size can be reduced with automation. And besides the F22P just happens to be a 2500 ton frigate. Crew complement happens to be the service's choice, not the ship. The more the better for longer journeys, as it gives you crew redundancy and more shifts. While the F22P might have around 210 people, the 053H3 is around 168. You can surely lower that with automation but you lose redundancy.
If you want a slightly larger 056 with eight antiship missiles, that's already been done and proposed. It even comes with a helicopter hanger. The ship is only 1800 tons.
But PLAN has already rejected it for their own internal reasons, leaving the ship into the export market or for coast guard duty in a modified form.
A 2500 ton vessel means reinventing or rejuvenating the 053 concept.
Compared to the 056, the 053H3 has its perks.
While its given an 8 missile HQ-10 launcher, I believe this can hold the 18 or 24 missile launcher. The choice for 8 missile is for penny pinching purposes.
The schematic is wrong for the gunnery radar being a Type 347, a monopulse radar with a high tracking rate. Its a Type 344 like used in the destroyers which is the gunnery radar used for larger guns. But if we trade that for the 76mm gun, the gunnery radar can be switched to the Type 347, which is also the radar used with the CIWS. Type 347 is also used on the 056 and 054A. The 054, which has the bigger gun, is matched with the 344.
A Type 347 also faces rearwards to service two Type 730B CIWS. Another cost saving measure, with one radar serving to CIWS. Without the penny pinching, you might as well have two full Type 730 or 1130, complete with each having its own Type 347 and EO units attached to the CIWS.
Not many mention this, but the 053H3 refit has a new SATCOM unit that is only seen in the last four Type 054A batch.
Also not mentioned, and often ignored, the 053H3 has the full Type 726 EW set, which consists of the 726-1 and 726-2 ESM units, the 726-3 ECM unit and the Type 726-4 Decoy unit. This ship's EW capabilities in the destroyer level, as this is the flagship EW set used on the 052C/D, Liaoning, Shandong, and Type 075. This ship's ability to soft kill is much better than the 056A which even lacks the decoy set. Much of the 056/056A production only relies on a pair of 726-1 ESM units, which on the last batch might have added a small ECM unit on top of it. But nothing as beefy as on the 053H3 refit.
Another thing underrated about this ship is that it has a Type 517M VHF radar used on the 052C/D destroyers. This can give it greater range than whatever is fitted on the 056 and 054A, and the ability to detect very low RCS targets. This opens the potential of such ships to be used as a radar picket ship. A modernized version can use the '520' radar seen on the 052DL.
The main radar you can go with the small dual sided radar like on the Type 075, or for cost reasons, go with a Type 364 or the radar currently used with the 056A.
Another thing. Thailand has shown they can take their 053 and modernized it with Western fittings, including an 8 cell Mk. 41 where the front missile launcher used to be. I think on the front part, you can stick an 8 cell AJK-16 VLS on it. A single Front Dome radar unit can service the 8 HQ-16, or you can ignore the SAM potential and put eight YU-8 for ASW purposes instead into the VLS. The trade off would be losing the HQ-10 launcher in that position.
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