If the Type 054B is equipped with the 160km class ARH HQ-16FE and GaN AESA it would be substantially superior in anti-air warfare compared to the Type 45, and indeed all warships from Europe.
No. A Type 45 is substantially better than a Type 054B at AAW.
1. You can't compare HQ-16FE to Aster 30. Aster has the best P/k of any SAM in the world, the Type 45 carries 48 of them. Type 054B carries maybe 32-48 of the worse HQ-16FE.
2. The T45 radar is mounted higher, it can see better over the radar horizon compared to Type 054B.
3. As a complement to SAMPSON, the T45 carries S1850M. The Type 054B secondary radar is (speculated) to be C-band which can't compare to S1850M at long-range detection.
4. The Type 45 is also being upgraded with 24 Sea Ceptors, new diesel sets and radar software upgrades.
5. There are many ships in Europe that outclass Type 054B in AAW, some of them: Horizon, Type 45, FREEM DA, IH, Sachsen & F100
This is continuing from the 054B thread, and I think it is worth discussing to a limited extent here in the separate thread simply because the 054B is an interesting example/comparison with some of the Eurofrigates.
My first belief is that I think Jason is incorrect to say that 054B would be "substantially superior in anti-air warfare" whether it's compared to Type 45 or "all warships from Europe".
I do actually believe that in many respects 054B is likely to be
competitive in certain domains of capability compared to a number of high end European warships, including large European surface combatants including Type 45, Horizon, FREMM DA Sachsen, F100, and in some respects possibly superior.
That is partially because 054B is using the sensors and weapons systems of China of the current era, while many of the European destroyers/frigates, while certainly very capable and having received their own upgrades, are running hardware from the 2000s. It doesn't help that some of those warships (like FREMM, or Horizon in terms of their primary MFR) have objectively less capable sensor configurations than 054B.
That said, a number of those warships are also significantly larger than 054B (particularly Type 45 and Horizon), and thus have more growth capacity and SWAP-C to work with and perhaps additional sensor sets (like SMART-L), and may have a slightly larger VLS load as well.... which is why ships like Type 45 and Horizon by displacement are better compared to 052C/D as being in the same displacement category.
BUT it is also unavoidable to acknowledge that by virtue of the increased size, modern sensor fit and weapons capabilities that 054B will offer, it approaches the capability many of the European high end AAW destroyers and frigates in service today.
That in itself is somewhat a sign of the times -- that the PLAN's lower end blue water capable workhorse surface combatant that will almost certainly be mass produced, will have overall capabilities that approach the high end limited number destroyers/frigates of Europe, all while not considering the PLAN's higher end 052Ds and 055s.
