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Deleted member 13312
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Being part of a fleet does not preclude it from having weapons that makes it better suited for the purpose. And as you have so helpfully pointed out yourself, since the Type 56A primary function is ASW operations the Type 87s would be a good supplement as it can be use within the minimum radius of the 330mm torpedoes (modern torpedoes have restrictions on how what range they will be armed due to self-targeting fears). It can also be deployed much faster and instantaneously than torpedoes. And it gives little time for the enemy sub to react.
And since the Type 56A is not expected to operate beyond the first island chain, well within China's costal zones. The depth of the ocean is less of a concern, not to mention that water depth have little to no effect on the performance of hedgehog style depth charges to begin with.
Also the hedgehog style ASROC effectiveness has been well documented in the past as shown in here :
"Statistics show that in the Second World War out of 5,174 British depth charge attacks there were 85.5 kills: a ratio of 60.5 to 1. In comparison, the Hedgehog made 268 attacks for 47 kills: a ratio of 5.7 to 1"
While it is true that submarine technology has improved over the years, so did ASROC tech as well.
In ASW where every second counts, and you have only a brief opportunity to sink a sub before it escapes. And that sudden contact with the enemy is a given and not all targets are certain. Every single ship is expected to pull its weight. This is not about cost trade offs or the lowness of stature or anything (which is fast becoming an hackneyed excuse for almost every single slip up the PLAN had committed). But rather some glaring oversight to a ship designed with a singular purpose.
If a Type 56A comes equipped with anti ship missiles even when it is not expected to face off against other enemy ships, then it makes even less sense for it to lack the most basic ASW equipment, even more so considering the fact that all of its predecessors came armed in such a nature before it.
The inclusion of the Type 87 launcher would not have caused the Type 56A to deviated from its original purpose, and if it is left out due to the lack of space for the hull then it still counts for a grievous oversight and flaw from the designer when they fail to take into account its main purpose when they can spare some thought to it's secondaries.
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