re: PLAN Type 071 LPD & its Landing Craft
Why does China needs 14 of these and pushing them out as fast as they can build them? Sounds like an overkill. Shouldn't the effort be used for new designs?
No, not at all. They have a LOT of antiquated frigates that need to be replaced, they have a long coastline to defend, and most importantly now, they have a LOT of sea lane attachments that are very critical to their economy and supplies. All need protecting and in today's world they need modern vessels to do so.
So, once they find a good modern design with good capabilities that will remain competitive for the next 20-30 years, they build those out to meet their needs.
If they contstanatly design new vessels and only produce a small number of them, then the training, maintenance, and logistical issues cost too much to maintain. The Type 054A is such a good design that they can produce them in numbers and maximize their capabilities whileminimizing their costs.
The Type 052C looks to be the same with eight or more of them being produced.
As regards the Type 071 LPD...same thing holds. Three have been built but I would not be surprised to see 6-8 of those too. The show the flag yes, and are good for humanitarian...but their real purpose is amphibious/air assault and having 6-8 very strong LPD platforms sends a message to potential adversaries regarding the PLAN's capabilities and thus act as a deterrent.
