My two cents worth
I think this ship may be meant to be used in conjuction with other ships. If the round hole in the stern in a port for a TAS then this makes sense. I cannot rule out that it is an OPV, or light corvette. If (it is just my guess) it is to be used near the Chinese mainland, then it could provide a spot for land based helicopters, possibly refuel them, give the crew a rest and allow the time on station to be improved. The downside in adding a heli pad is pretty minor, but it allows a lot of flexibility. Even for little things like taking off sick crew members, taking on stores.
If (and it is my guess) it is to be used in conjuction with several other ships, then it could be on the flanks of a fleet, trailing a TAS to ensure that the area around the ship is free from subs. Being small it is almost expendable, by that I mean if the commander of a fleet had to choose one of his ships to get sunk, then he would go for the smallest. So having a small ship on either side of the main force, looking out for enemey subs, ships and planes.
When chasing subs, generally several ships are used. Thus having 2 or 3 of these ships in addition to the main force, looking for the subs is going to be a large benefit.
I think they are nice ships.
As to having a hangar. I think this is unlikely. Not many corvettes under 1500t have hangars, technically possible, but hard to do. Generally frigates that have a hangar are larger, and this ship would need to be more than just lenghtened. Not saying that it is impossible, just unlikely. It coming years maybe China will build a 2500t frigate, and that will have a heli and a hangar. However it is a nice design, the helipad does not add great weight, cost, or complexity to the design, but adds a lot of flexibility. Thus for relatively small downside, there is a lot of upside. It may just be used to refuel a heli from another ship, increasing the combat radius of the heli, or refuel a land based heli, also making the land based helicopters job a lot easier.
My guess is that they will make more than 30 of these, just my guess, not based on fact.
IMO the photographic evidence against a TAS on the 056 is as strong as you can get on the internet. At this point we have a clear photographic view into the mooring area underneath the helipad just prior to launch showing no TAS assembly, and we have an unambiguously clear photograph of a mooring cable coming out of that "hole" (known as a "fairlead"). If that hole is for TAS you might as well say the exact same hole on the 052C is also for TAS. Funny that both of them have mooring lines coming out of them instead...
And there is no reason to think that TAS will be added to the 056 during fitting if it was not already installed during construction, as that would have been far easier than what they would have to do now, namely stuff a disassembled TAS assembly inside the mooring area piece by piece though the openings, reassemble it, and then they want to use it, run the line out of the fairlead instead of the usual dedicated TAS port, like oh, every other TAS-equipped ship in the PLAN. As far as I'm concerned the TAS saga for this ship is over; we don't need to wait for closeup shots to make a confident determination that the current 056 batch has no TAS and does not intend to mount a TAS, assuming this is even physically possible for this design; this is not a given by any means.
As for shore-based ASW helos, the PLAN doesn't have any. I have no idea why anyone would think that these can just magically appear out of thin air when the PLAN already has enough problems just supplying enough for its ships at sea, to speak nothing of having an entire shore-based regiment to support alleged 056 ASW operations. Shore-based ASW is usually performed by propeller-driven aircraft like one of the Y-8 mods, with far longer ranges, longer durations, larger and more varied payloads, and greater and more varied detection methods like MAD stingers and periscope-detecting radars, just like how every other modern navy does shore-based ASW. We've already seen one of these Y-8 aircraft photographed, and I'm sure they will be in service soon, if they aren't already.
As for ASW mini-UAV's and mini-hangars, it doesn't have any. Those triangular shapes underneath the tarps just inside the passageways, sitting right next to the torpedo ports, are torpedoes.
As for CY-X type ASW missiles, I don't know of any currently in PLAN service.
So what do we have left? A corvette that is both incapable of long-range sub detection and incapable of long-range sub attack. Sure it's got torpedoes and a tiny medium-frequency bow sonar, but all this setup is good for is firing a few fish at an attacking sub hoping to distract it or break off its attack while the 056 maxes out its diesels and runs for its life. This is the same reason the subchaser concept is obselete in modern ASW, and is unlikely to find a home in a modernized PLAN. A ship without standoff ASW weapons is more likely to become the victim rather than the hunter against a modern submarine.
The 056 is an excellent low-intensity littoral patrol vessel which the PLAN intends for use in the traditional roles that corvettes have been used for in the past. In its current iteration it is not an ASW ship by any stretch of the imagination. If as hmmwv theorized this ship is stretchable enough to incorporate a dedicated hangar and its YJ-8 series antiship missiles get replaced by a future CY-type ASW missile (with good range), then we've got something to work with. Right now we've got nothing to work with.
A possible future 054X ASW variant is far more fascinating to think about IMO due to its larger size and inherent suitability for ASW. If that ship could accommodate a second hangar (it would have to be stretchable), it's already got a TAS and 32 VLS tubes. Even retaining 16 tubes for HHQ-16 to have some basic medium-range air defense, that would leave 16 tubes for a future CY-X missile that would require no turning to face the target, i.e. omnidirectional launch and rapid time to target. Alternatively it could just replace its antiship missile complement with ASW missiles. With a double hangar upgrade, I would rate such a vessel as being more potent than even a Perry FFG at offensive ASW, which does not have ASROC and has only its helos to use for long-range attack.
