FFG 054/054A Thread

[swimmerXC]

more from the morning of the 18th, actually, interesting enough, you can see the shots of VLS quite clear with this one, although it's still covered up.

Looks like 526's HQ-7 is also getting an update

 

[Gollevainen]

Well these new pics still didn't reveal the mystery of the VLS as it had a bloody hat on it

....But it's still something. Now we know the width of the VLS complex and it's much narrower than some speculations have given. I still cannot say certain but I'm begining to be quite sure that there's 16 of those hatches. But those hatches are larger than a hatch that would cover only one silo. Recent drawings of the VLS system to be fitted to the newest russian pr. 2235 shows strikingly similar non-square hachts with 2 missiles under each hatchs...And as many reports says the armament for this new chinese ship comes from Russia....well who knows? Maybe there is 32 missiles after all...

 

[kickars]

two more clear shots of VLS
interestingly enough, they mentionned that the 2nd 054A in HD has already been launched, but no photo has come out yet. So, I'm just waiting right now. By a generous count, they've basically launched 4 054As in 5 months. Quite a rapid pace. Anyhow, still waiting for the 3rd 054A in HP to move in for final assembly and for the launching pictures of the 2nd 054A in HD. We should have them any day now.

Editted, the guy who posted this picture said that the 2nd 054A in HP is suppose to be launched on the eve of 18th, (must have launched already), but he didn't stay long enough for the photos. Anyway, a little more of what he wrote.


from what he heard:
1. He wrote each 054A is 1.58 billion yuan? (or maybe it's 1.5 billion or 800 million, not sure exactly). So, after conversion, that's anywhere from 100 to 200 million USD per ship.
2. the ships are signed in batches of 2s. There is definitely a third under construction, didn't say anything about a 4th.
3. Not important how many missiles are on the ship, but rather the important part is that the tracking system (sensors) are all finalized. Not sure if he is talking about the first 2 or the second batch of 2.
4. Also HP is about to be located to Nansha for expansion reasons.

Actually, the last point should translate to HP is about to be relocated Nansha. Because there'll be a larger ship to be built. Now, I wonder what kind of larger ship was he talking about?

 

[planeman]

I'm still hoping for a speedy resolution to the SAM and SSM mysteries of the Type-054a. I'm still betting 8 x YJ-83 as per the Type-054 but time will tell.

 

[Diving Falcon]

So will there be other variants of the Type-054A, i.e those with better ASW or new-generation radars, electronics and sensors, etc? Or will the PLAN stick with the Type-054A to make up the significant portion of its frigate fleet?

 

[FugitiveVisions]

Well these new pics still didn't reveal the mystery of the VLS as it had a bloody hat on it

....But it's still something. Now we know the width of the VLS complex and it's much narrower than some speculations have given. I still cannot say certain but I'm begining to be quite sure that there's 16 of those hatches. But those hatches are larger than a hatch that would cover only one silo. Recent drawings of the VLS system to be fitted to the newest russian pr. 2235 shows strikingly similar non-square hachts with 2 missiles under each hatchs...And as many reports says the armament for this new chinese ship comes from Russia....well who knows? Maybe there is 32 missiles after all...

Actually a lot of the old pictures gave a pretty good idea of the width of the VLS complex, that it stretches across the flat part of the bridge. Now that we have a chance to look at the complex from the front, the VLS complex looks much wider than it did from the side, too wide to accomodate only two hatches.

 

[tphuang]

I'm still hoping for a speedy resolution to the SAM and SSM mysteries of the Type-054a. I'm still betting 8 x YJ-83 as per the Type-054 but time will tell.

yeah, i think that will be the case.

Actually a lot of the old pictures gave a pretty good idea of the width of the VLS complex, that it stretches across the flat part of the bridge. Now that we have a chance to look at the complex from the front, the VLS complex looks much wider than it did from the side, too wide to accomodate only two hatches.

the previous pictures + what the people that posted these pictures said is pretty convincing for me, but more revealing pictures help remove doubt -> more pictures will come out.

So will there be other variants of the Type-054A, i.e those with better ASW or new-generation radars, electronics and sensors, etc? Or will the PLAN stick with the Type-054A to make up the significant portion of its frigate fleet?

hard to say with sonar. I asked gf0021-aust about VDS a while back, he said that it could be impossible to tell whether a ship has VDS or not, because the ship could be using some kind of a conformal VDS. As for newer generation radar, my prediction is that the new radar on 891 getting tested with the FCRs are going on 054A, although this newly launched one is still using SR-64. Basically, I think each new batch of 2 054As will have changes compared to the previous.

Actually, the last point should translate to HP is about to be relocated Nansha. Because there'll be a larger ship to be built. Now, I wonder what kind of larger ship was he talking about?

yes I saw that, but that also means expanding the shipyard, allowing it move up the hierarchy so to speak. Even 054A is getting too big for the building hall.

 

[crobato]

The Varyag does not have the same fascination to local Chinese military enthusiasts as the 054A does, which is currently the star of the show until some new ship/plane/tank comes along. So understandably, posting pics of the 054A gets a bigger emo value than the Varyag, who on the other hand, seems something more interesting to outside Westerners looking in.

Is the photographer for real? He can be stretching his neck out on this.

 

[tphuang]

The Varyag does not have the same fascination to local Chinese military enthusiasts as the 054A does, which is currently the star of the show until some new ship/plane/tank comes along. So understandably, posting pics of the 054A gets a bigger emo value than the Varyag, who on the other hand, seems something more interesting to outside Westerners looking in.

Is the photographer for real? He can be stretching his neck out on this.

see, I'm suspecting this guy has some kind of PLA connection and this is like an official leak kind of things. It's mind boggling the number of high quality shots he was allowed to take. He did take down several photos later on and asked others to do so too, but they were pretty similar to the photos that were kept there.

 

[crobato]

The VLS looks like there are two sets, with two rows each, for four rows. Does not look like the hatches are big, and the missiles may be fairly small.