I do know Type 517 isn't exactly modern. What I'm talking about when I used it as an example is the rotating AESA radar i.e. Thales S1850M/ Smart-L used on many European DDs. The arrangement of European DDs looks to be most similar to PLAN's preference, so I'm wondering if PLAN would request a Chinese version of Smart-L and put it on Type 055 along with Type 052D when they're inevitably modernized.
BTW thanks for clarifying.
Its a good question. I remember there was a coffee book published only in China, showing the evolution of destroyer design from the beginning towards the 055. The cover had a ship design that had the "Wuhan" chinese lantern array, with the back having SMART-L like array. I also remember there was export proposals of the 052C or 052D that instead of the 517, used a SMART-L looking like array.
The resemblance towards SMART-L is superficial, because the array is large, dark, rectangular and rotates. That's because the Type 120 and Type 305A, 305B radars used with the land based HQ-9 complex all look like that too, and this array can be a navalized version of such. These ships of course, use the HQ-9.
For whatever good reason and it must be good, the PLAN decided to omit this. I would think that internal 055 design concepts may have included such a radar, just like so many of these fan concepts also embodied them for the same reason of using an L-band radar, which has its range advantage over S-band, and better resolution characteristics over VHF/UHF radar like Type 517, or why the PLA is using the Type 120 in the first place.
So there must be a good reason. In my opinion, what the 055 has on its 346B must be pretty good to finally and completely omit this. On the 052DL, the 346A is not good enough so they have to upgrade the Type 517M instead --- which by the way, looked like the Type 965 radar used by the British in the eighties. (see HMS Sheffield and Type 42 destroyers.)
