Re: Type 054 FFG status
If you look at the amount of weapons being crammed on small ships these days, the size of the craft isn't always indicative of its offensive armaments. O_O
For example the Israeli Sa'ar 5 Corvette is 1,200 tons, and is armed with 8 x Harpoons, 8 x Gabriel anti-ship missiles, 2 x 32-cel VLS Barak missile launchers, 1 x CIWS gun, 6 x torpedos, helicopter deck, plus hanger for up to 2 helicopters. That's more weapons than what the 3,600 ton La Fayette class Frigates carry, or even some destroyers twice that weight.
Another example is the 1,050 ton Russian Bora-class Corvette, armed with 8 x 3M-80E Moskit SSMs, 1 x Osa-MA SAM system w/40 missiles, 1 x 76mm or 100mm gun, 2 x AK-630 CIWS guns, plus various countermeasures and 4x decoy rocket launchers. That's the same number of Moskit SSM's carried by the 8,000 ton Sovremenniy!
IMO the PLA tends to lean toward domestic production (either licensed copies or reverse enginnering), using foreign purchases only for stop-gap measures. Replacing the AK-630 with domestically-made Type 730 CIWS follows this trend.
In the future, I wouldn't be surprised if the PLA copy Kashtan concept and incorporate 1-2 x 30mm gatling guns with SAMs:
chicket9 said:
If you look at the amount of weapons being crammed on small ships these days, the size of the craft isn't always indicative of its offensive armaments. O_O
For example the Israeli Sa'ar 5 Corvette is 1,200 tons, and is armed with 8 x Harpoons, 8 x Gabriel anti-ship missiles, 2 x 32-cel VLS Barak missile launchers, 1 x CIWS gun, 6 x torpedos, helicopter deck, plus hanger for up to 2 helicopters. That's more weapons than what the 3,600 ton La Fayette class Frigates carry, or even some destroyers twice that weight.
Another example is the 1,050 ton Russian Bora-class Corvette, armed with 8 x 3M-80E Moskit SSMs, 1 x Osa-MA SAM system w/40 missiles, 1 x 76mm or 100mm gun, 2 x AK-630 CIWS guns, plus various countermeasures and 4x decoy rocket launchers. That's the same number of Moskit SSM's carried by the 8,000 ton Sovremenniy!
IMO the PLA tends to lean toward domestic production (either licensed copies or reverse enginnering), using foreign purchases only for stop-gap measures. Replacing the AK-630 with domestically-made Type 730 CIWS follows this trend.
In the future, I wouldn't be surprised if the PLA copy Kashtan concept and incorporate 1-2 x 30mm gatling guns with SAMs:
