The old 054A is still hi, what is the material for building 20 ships? Why are you so confused, the Navy still snaps up it?
News came from the 054A ship, and there was an additional order. Why do you need to expand the production of this old model? There are many discussions on the Internet, and everyone is puzzled. What is the charm that makes the Navy actually place another order? To solve this mystery, we have to start from the beginning.
At this juncture, the scale of frigates in our Navy is already quite large. With 2 053 series, 40 054A and 50 056A, a total of 107 ships, it is the largest frigate group in the world. Not only is there a large number, but the performance is also quite superior, which is able to meet the current needs of the Navy. However, events often go beyond our plans. In order to contain our country, the United States has not only started a war, but also frequently created incidents in the waters around our country, attempting to build a military encirclement and threatening to cut off China's foreign maritime line. As a result, the security situation in China's neighborhood has taken a sharp turn for the worse. In the face of this change, the Chinese Navy has had to make major adjustments to its maritime strategy. The new strategy not only requires the navy to take the initiative to break the encirclement built by the United States around China, but also needs to have the ability to safeguard China's overseas interests on a global scale. On the one hand, the scale of the navy needs to be further expanded, and on the other hand, the scope of activities needs to be greatly extended, and even long-term deployment of ships in some key sea areas is required. For example, it was recently reported that China has permanently deployed 4** ships around the island of Taiwan, mainly 054A frigates. At the same time, a large number of 054A frigates participated in missions such as Fiery Cross Reef and Ren'ai Reef in the South China Sea, as well as escort operations in the Gulf of Aden. However, at present, the frigates of our Navy are mainly small tonnage corvettes (15 053 and 50 056A), while large frigates (40 054A frigates) are relatively insufficient. This is precisely why the Navy is building additional large frigates.
So why did you choose to build an additional 4000-ton 054A frigate? First of all, compared with the 6,000-ton 054B frigate that is about to undergo sea trials, the 054A frigate is more in line with the urgent needs of the current navy. The 054B frigate is an ocean-going frigate with a larger and more optimized hull, a displacement that has reached the level of the main European frigate, and has better ocean-going performance and seaworthiness. However, after the tonnage of the 054B frigate increased significantly, the ** configuration did not increase accordingly, but was mainly used to improve the comfort of the crew and carry more supplies and fuel to improve endurance. This makes the 054B frigate more suitable for global deployment and operations, and is an equipment for the next 10 years. But in the current situation, what our country urgently needs is a large frigate capable of performing tasks within the first island chain, rather than going to another country. Secondly, because the 054B frigate has introduced a series of new technologies, such as the super-large double-sided gallium nitride AESA radar and the integrated radio frequency system with mast integration, it is more risky and needs to be further improved. In contrast, the 054A frigate has gradually improved its performance after many upgrades and has become relatively mature. Although the main and fast reflex radars have not been upgraded in batches and are still at the level of the beginning of this century, the 054A frigates built this time are expected to be further upgraded in terms of radar systems and other aspects to meet the needs of the new naval strategy.
According to recent news, Hudong Shipyard has purchased 20 054A frigates with related supporting equipment. Considering that China's frigates are usually built at the same time in Hudong and Huangpu, and the number of orders for the two is the same, the number of additional ships built this time may be as high as 40 ships. While this number may include some of the coast guard's orders, a conservative estimate is that the number of naval orders will also reach 20. According to the construction speed of the previous 10 new batch 054A frigates, there is a high probability that all 20 will be completed within 3 years, that is, by 2027 at the latest. At that time, the number of 054A frigates will be as high as 60, making it the largest number of large frigates built after World War II. It is worth noting that the 054A frigate has been adhering to the principle of "running in small steps" during the construction process in batches, and has been upgraded several times to improve performance. The additional ships are expected to further upgrade the radar system and other aspects to further improve their comprehensive performance.