One also should consider China's military spending. Sure, of course what the government states may not be true, in fact PLA might be spending 2-3 times more than stated. But one thing PLA, especially PLAN, doesn't have the luxury of is a high budget as Japan and USA has.
Japan can virtually afford anything. Though it spends only 1% of GDP on defence, that is quite substantial. PLA is huge, spending even so much money will only dent so much in upgrading the entire force, so you'd be left with obsolete equipment.
Yes I agree that with Japanese-US tech/military transfers, they will always maintain the cutting edge in military technology. Judging from that new destroyer picture however, I don't think this baby will be as comparable as US DD(X). US DD(X) is absolute cream of the force. But this Japanese 'wave piercer' seems more similar in appearance to e British Type 45 class AAW destroyers. The British Type 45 is not bad, in fact, boasted as the worlds current most advanced and also most crew-comforting combat vessel built in Europe, if not the world. So I think Japan's new DD program will be as good as US DD(X) in terms of electronics/command, but in terms of weapons capabilities and radar, more on the lines of British Type 45.
Yes China can always 'speed up' and influx more money into its defence. But rather than criticising it and urging more upgrades, shouldn't we be pleased with how far PLAN is upgrading? I mean, back in 1990-2000, there was no way near such naval development. Jiangwei II was about the only real building programme, and Luhu and Luhai never took off. Only one Song prototpye was completed, and even so that sucked majorly, and China only bought 2 Sovremennys and 4 Kilos.
Now look at 2000-2008. I am not sure if 054A would be built to '20' as much. But at least in these 8 years, we have/will see:
2 Type 052B
2 Type 051C
2 Type 052C
8-10 Song 039
various numbers of improved Mings
2 Yuans
8 Kilos
2 Sovremenny Improved
1 Type 071
4 Type 054A
2 Type 054
2-4 additional Jiangwei II
8-12 Type 022 FAC
2x new mine warfare ship classes
10 (if not more) Yuting III improved
10 (if not more) new LCM class
1 new weapons testing platform
2 new fleet replenishment ships
24 Su-30MK2
New tanks/APCs for Marines
Acquisition of 5-6 new types of missiles (YJ-83, YJ-62, SA-N-6, HQ-9, SA-N-12, Klub SLCM)
That is a heck of a lot of new boats coming out, not to mention upgrades to other areas of the Navy. In these 8 years between 2000-2008, we can be quite pleased with how fast PLAN growing and upgrading. Sure it is not large enough to replace the whole obsolete force, as 2/3 of the PLAN is still using the older destroyers/frigates (though their comms and electronics have been somewhat upgraded). But to any admiral/political analyst/military analyst, this is the largest naval building programme only second to the US.
Sure the PLAN maybe 20 years behind in terms of US AEGIS and somewhat decades behind until a quantity of carriers can be seen. But the point is, PLAN has come a long way considering its capabilities were quite negligible back before 2000.
Even so, hasn't AEGIS or AEGIS-type ships only really taken off outside the US only recently?
If you do not count US and Japan, PLAN is really in the same situation as many European and Asian navies in their acquisition of AAW ships.
Only recently has the British Type 045 been launched, the Korean KDXIII programme taken off, that European navies have begun to acquire AAW frigates/destroyers, and the Australians have funded an AAW vessel, and India has started a much-upgraded New Delhi class destroyer configured for AAW.
The only success story in Europe so far is the Dutch De Zeven class, of which 4 are operated.
Of course, most of the western nations acquiring these AAW ships have benefit of US collaboration, but it will take years for these new ships to be properly incorporated into these navies in quantity. Same situation as PLAN. Quite bold of PLAN to actually go an extra mile and test two AAW designs.
As Japan focuses on being defensive, I think PLAN should too...
I don't mean defensive as in always taking a defensive stance and not project power beyond territorial waters. But I mean, PLAN should work up a defensive capability which would... 1) be more than enough to hold off, and even sufficiently damage 4 US carrier battle groups in a regional war
, and 2) adequately counter modern SSNs/SSKs as well as mine warfare.
As for 1800 tonne frigates, I say screw that. I mean, the US Navy for example, used quite large OH Perry class, without a corvette sized ship, and even the Pegasus FAC was scrapped in the end. Yet no one saw US as weak, just because it had no littoral craft (though I acknowledge USA is developing the Littoral Combat Ship, but that replaces Perry).
1800 tonne ships are good for high budget but tiny navies, especially in the Middle East and South East Asia. But for a sea going fleet like China, i think the interest for now is to acquire a balanced frigate platform, which the 054A meets. It is ocean going and can fulfill quite a few missions. For now, the coastal defense 'frigate' role can be fulfilled by large numbers of Jianghus, and China has more than enough FAC and aircraft to shoot up anything on its coastline.
France and Russia used small frigates, as two classically large navies that used coastal defense frigates. Eg, th Russians have their Grishas, and the French have their D'Estienne D'Orves (Type A 69) class, but these frigates absolutely suck if they were confronted by aircraft or anything with SSMs, as they lacked adequate air defense or anti-ship capabilities to meet any true threat. So for a coastal defense ship, you'd have to cram SAM, CIWS, torpedoes, SSM, guns, all in a small platform which only has limited ocean going capabilities...I might as well save money and go for one frigate class.
