137 is undergoing sea trials, right? Then they'll probably start the refit for 138 very soon.
PLAN Sovremenny DDG 136, 137, 138 & 139 Thread
- Thread starter FarkTypeSoldier
- Start date
Works now. Video pretty much captures the changes step by step. Being visual, it does not explain the impact these changes makes to the entire function of the ship.
137 should be operational now as it has been reported doing exercises by the official state media. No pictures however came with the article, link is posted somewhere in another thread. 138 refit is not likely to happen until some years from now. Should focus on 168 Guangzhou and 169 Wuhan next, along with frigate no 526.
Not many navies want to operate steam destroyers. And they are still pretty useful for PLA.
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
Well Sov has one trick that no other Chinese ships have. She has one of the largest firing rate gun in Chinese navy. If fully modernized like 136, 137 make it compatible with other Chinese ships, it should be useful in Taiwan scenario
The AK-130 naval gun is one of the most formidable artillery pieces afloat today. However, it had a long and troubled development period, mostly due to the stagnation of Soviet shipboard artillery research and its massive weight. However, once fielded it proved itself to be an extremely rapid weapon, attaining rates of fire of upwards of sixty rounds per minute of 130-millimeter shells. But why did Soviet naval doctrine call for such a monster of a gun? Is it still relevant today?
The design was finally adopted as a dual gun mount, with the production name AK-130 in 1985, for the . Dual guns were used, as the single gun was unable to reach the targeted rate of fire of sixty rounds per minute. In this implementation, the AK-130 can fire eighty rounds per minute, at a. This rate can be sustained from up to 180 ready rounds loaded in the turret magazine. Each round weighs seventy-three pounds, and can be shot out to a range of twenty-three kilometers ballistically.
Realistically, it can shoot out to fifteen kilometers in the antiair role and eight kilometers in the antimissile role. The dual gun mount weighs around a hundred tons, with the ammo magazine checking in at forty tons; this makes the AK-130 as a complete system extremely heavy. For comparison, the 127-millimeter Mark 45 Mod 2 gun on American destroyers weighs only fifty-four tons for the complete system; however, it is a single gun mount with only twenty rounds loaded in the turret magazine. The AK-130 operated with radar direction and has a ballistic computer integrated with a laser rangefinder. Some shells it fires are equipped with remote and radar fuses, allowing them to effectively engage aircraft.
PLAN warships appear to have a lifespan average of about 40 years. Some ships go even longer. They might be waiting for a few more years for 138/139, or are in no hurry to refit them for now as they are concentrating their resources in the new ships. They should do MLUs not because the ship passes a specified time span but because of its technology obsolescence.
138/139 is a bit trickier to refit as the two ships are different from the other two. Namely the two Kashtan CIWS and the Pozitiv radar on top of the hanger. The Pozitiv radar does what the Type 364 radar does, it spots and tracks for sea skimmers and other targets low at the horizon and queues the defenses like the two Kashtans at them. In the refit of the 136/137, the Type 364 radar was added as these other two ships have no equivalent. This time however you got the equivalent, the Pozitiz radar, and one difference is that this radar is a 3D phase array. Its also fairly modern and is the most modern thing in the ship. Changing this to the Type 364 which is a mechanical parabolic radar, might be a bit of a downgrade.
For the loss of the second AK130 gun, these two ships are more capable defensively. This raises the question of what are you going to do with these? Are you going to refresh them, clean them up, leave them untouched, or are you going to replace them? If left behind, how are they going to integrate with the Chinese systems? Are you going to replace them entirely with a set of Type 1130 paired with Type 364? Will that be easy to do?
The refits so far we have seen have not changed any guns, and only changed radars and EW. This suggests gun changes are a bit more complicated to perform, with stress related issues and such.
For me I would ideally keep the two Kashtans and Pozitiv, but replace everything else to their Chinese equivalents. Top Plate to Type 382, Band Stand to Type 366, Shtil to HHQ-16, the EW to the Chinese Type 726 set including the 726-4 decoy system.
Type 051C is also tricky. RIF-M is still a very capable AAW system with a range of over 200km. I would retain the systems and contract the Russians to refresh the electronics and software instead, and make them integrate with the usual changes: Top Plate to Type 382, Band Stand to Type 366, yada yada.
One thing to note is the EW upgrade to the Type 726 set (726-1 ESM, 726-2 ESM, 726-3 ECM, 726-4 DLS) is a must in any refit. After the Type 052 had their refits, their EW sets are equal to that of the 052C/D, and its soft kill capability should be better than the 052B. This was also brought to the refits of the 051B and the 136/137. The 051C is also outdated with its EW systems and needs to be brought to the same standard.
They are more like bigger Type 054As but with greater antiship killing power.