FFG 054/054A Thread

[tphuang]

Just some more photos, any idea on this picture from HD? another 054?

Anyhow, more pictures from today.
This is the first one in the front and the newly launched one in the back

more shots from today

 

[szbd]

alright, still without sea eagle, but the second 054A at HD is finally launched, here are some of the pictures on it.

When the ship is being launched, it will have a big shock when going into the water. Therefore you don't install all your fragile equipment on the ship before it being launched. But ship is much more stable on the slipway than in water, so you want to install as many equipment as possible before the ship being launched. You need to have a very mature design, very strong hull and very accurate calculation and control in launching. The 054A only lack of see eagle now, so it's already a very big achievement, a big sign of mass production. The DDG51 barely had anything installed on mast when launching.

HP shipyard is shallow and narrow, so they always use float dock to launch ships, and therefore avoids the shock. So the 054A in HP had sea eagle installed when launching.

 

[szbd]

Thanks for the pics.

BTW, whatever happened to those frigates that Hudong was supposed to be building for the Pakistanis?

It's said at least one is building.

Hey Bd,
1. It's using diesel engines - not exactly ideal if you want to make it larger to be able to equip more stuff. Also, the other problem is that it's simply not as quiet as gas turbines.
2. Weak ASW - while it's AAW and ASuW is more than sufficient at the moment, it should have more ASW equipment as a future escort. Outside of the noise issue, we haven't seen any VDS or TAS (although I have speculated conformal VDS before)
3. hull - while it is the most stealthy hull in PLAN, I think in probably 5 to 10 years when it's been mass produced, there will be far stealthier hulls out there. And on top of that, I'm not a shipbuilding expert, but I really question how much more armament you can fit on this hull (don't think it can be stretched much more).

I think the current 054A's main job is still defense against US aircraft attack and cruiser missiles, should there be a war over taiwan. I believe for 10 years, PLAN is seriously working on how to protect PLAAF's bases from the sea.

China will have a decent blue water fleet in the near future, but I don't think PLAN want to deploy more than 1/5 of her ships oversea. The top priority is Taiwan and it's very close to the coast.

 

[crobato]

I have a design challenge to some people here.

The assignment is to fit four phase arrays into the 054 design, while maintaining a 360 degree coverage on the arrays.

Lets see what we can come up.

 

[szbd]

I have a design challenge to some people here.

The assignment is to fit four phase arrays into the 054 design, while maintaining a 360 degree coverage on the arrays.

Lets see what we can come up.

I think that's impossible. 054A is too small and too slim.

 

[tphuang]

When the ship is being launched, it will have a big shock when going into the water. Therefore you don't install all your fragile equipment on the ship before it being launched. But ship is much more stable on the slipway than in water, so you want to install as many equipment as possible before the ship being launched. You need to have a very mature design, very strong hull and very accurate calculation and control in launching. The 054A only lack of see eagle now, so it's already a very big achievement, a big sign of mass production. The DDG51 barely had anything installed on mast when launching.

HP shipyard is shallow and narrow, so they always use float dock to launch ships, and therefore avoids the shock. So the 054A in HP had sea eagle installed when launching.

have you seen any of the previous 054A that got launched? They all had sea eagle installed.

I think the current 054A's main job is still defense against US aircraft attack and cruiser missiles, should there be a war over taiwan. I believe for 10 years, PLAN is seriously working on how to protect PLAAF's bases from the sea.

China will have a decent blue water fleet in the near future, but I don't think PLAN want to deploy more than 1/5 of her ships oversea. The top priority is Taiwan and it's very close to the coast.

how does this respond to my point over 054A?

 

[planeman]

I'd favour either a staggered mast application or a combination mast-funnel based loosely on the F-100's but mounted where the current funnel is.

 

[szbd]

have you seen any of the previous 054A that got launched? They all had sea eagle installed.

In huangpu, sure, they use float dock. The previous one in HD I'm not sure, maybe this time the sea eagle is a different one.

how does this respond to my point over 054A?

About the weak ASW part. I think this is not high priority for PLAN now since I guess they mainly expect 054A to defend against cruiser missiles close to Chinese coast. For later 054A vessles, I don't know.

 

[tphuang]

In huangpu, sure, they use float dock. The previous one in HD I'm not sure, maybe this time the sea eagle is a different one.

They all had Sea Eagle. Whether they were on floating dock or not is irrelevant.

About the weak ASW part. I think this is not high priority for PLAN now since I guess they mainly expect 054A to defend against cruiser missiles close to Chinese coast. For later 054A vessles, I don't know.

What? 054A defending against cruise missiles? Do you know what you are talking about at all?

 

[oringo]

I have a design challenge to some people here.

The assignment is to fit four phase arrays into the 054 design, while maintaining a 360 degree coverage on the arrays.

Lets see what we can come up.

Crobato, no offense, but what is the point of this challenge? 054 does not have the room to fit a large VLS even if you managed to fit four phase array radars. It's a waste to have all the sensors you want but not enough means to act upon them. It would just turn 054 to a very expense AWACS minus the surface search capability.