that's actually very nice they'd have it, makes a lot of sense. i wonder what kind of service it is able to support, certainly not gaming or streaming, but perhaps download a movie or two?
055 DDG Large Destroyer Thread
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Does it have to be?
For roles other than land strike(which indeed consumes that added cell number), they're functional equivalents.
052D is, however, very much spammable. More so than any other modern primary surface combatant.
Don't think presence beyond 2nd chain has much to do with overclassification of already pretty vague classes.
It is more about intent and basing/supply chain - 052D by itself is perfectly capable of being the instrument of global presence - if it needs to.
Well, maintaining a presence past the 2nd Island Chain also requires enough aircraft carriers so that surface ships have a decent chance of surviving.
And from what we know, a Type-055 is about half the cost of an Arleigh Burke. So why couldn't China just build more Type-055s instead of introducing a new mid-sized destroyer?
The current destroyers have 64 and 112 VLS cells respectively. A new mid-sized destroyer would presumably have about 88 VLS cells which is in the middle of this range.
Is it worth establishing an entirely new class of mid-sized destroyer?
A Type-055 would only be 30% larger in terms of displacement and VLS count than such a new mid-sized destroyer.
So you might as well build more Type-055s as it probably works out cheaper.
055s take much longer time to actually be combat ready, compared to 052Ds (cuz much more advanced/newer/bigger).
What's more, the next batch of 055s is most likely in development as well.
Is there some rule that says you Must have an aircraft carrier to have a decent chance of surviving?
What if instead the PLA navy puts a bunch of DF-26 ASBM on some islands in the Pacific. So long as the destroyers stay within the combat radius of the DF-26 missiles they have protection.
well, rule of thumb is you don't fight without aviation at sea. It may not necessarily end bad every time, but chances that it'll end well are not impressive. Aviation is just overfilled with basic physical advantages which you just don't willingly give up.
DF-26 is a pure strike system with a very significant kill chain before it.
Planes are air2air, survivable reconnaissance/strike, ASW, and more.
Comparable solution is not DF-26s, it's placing your own aviation on island bases ("island hopping").
Maintaining presence past 2nd Chain can be done even with 056s if needed. It's more about intent than about some unwritten rule that you need some specific amount of tons to operate further(or especially cells).
Marine internet are done with SATCOM antennas no larger than pizza boxes, just like you do in Starlink. Satellite internet SATCOMs can be carried on top of an SUV. The retrofitted SATCOMs are far larger than what's needed for this purpose which points to using longer frequencies than used with satellite internet.
For example, let's take this from a recent picture of the Shandong posted in the other thread. The satellite internet satcom is pointed by the red line.
Once again, looks like this, a commercial civilian product.
While the retrofitted satcoms we see on the surface warships including the circular ones are notably nowhere to be seen in the Shandong. This indicates that these satcoms have a unique purpose.
We go to the 052D page and we can find a picture of 161 Hohhot there.
Red points to the marine internet SATCOM but blue points to the circular SATCOMs. As the satcoms are coexisting they don't have the same purpose. Red points to the SATCOM used with the civilian internet.
When you go to the 056 page, you can find many pictures of 056A, the last batches have the circular SATCOM on top of the bridge like this. Those that don't have it are being refitted gradually throughout the entire fleet. But its safe to say, unlike the larger ships, the 056 doesn't have access to civilian internet.
My theory is that the circular domes point to some kind of proprietary satellite internet the PLAN uses that allows surface warships to exchange digital data, streaming and otherwise, with each other over the horizon in a giant network. Of course it is going to be combat related. I will add that these satcoms are heavy enough that the 056A's bridge roof is deliberately thickened for it, compared to the 056. The few 056 fitted with this SATCOM has to install it in the rear instead.
If your ships can talk to each other via directed links to satellites as opposed to broadcasting your radio waves omnidirectionally to the atmosphere for the other ship to pick up, you remove the risk of your communications being intercepted by the enemy ESM, which can be used to triangulate your position. And of course, there should be some advantages having all your surface warships linked up to a secure satellite internet of their own, with potential gigabit speed transfer of data among all members.
055s can compensate for that over the 052D, by being more automated. Theoretically possible, that the 055, despite being a larger ship, might have the same crew complement as the 052D. Maybe even less. You use advance automation to replace people. It is not so long ago, the same number of people you put into a 052D is crammed into a ship the size of a 051 Luda.
Slight delay of 055 next batch is likely in my opinion, for quality finishing and refinement. Remember that in the analogy of software versions, our current 055 is like 1.03 in the latest Nanchang form. In contrast the 052D is a highly debugged and refined vessel, like version 3.0. The quality finishing is not going to expand the 055's combat capability, but squash reliability issues, software and electronics related bugs, improve quality of life issues with the crew, lessons derived from the experience of years of the Nanchang's service, things that no engineer in the drawing board is able to anticipate. There is going to be a long list of them, likely in the hundreds, which they will have to deal with one by one and fix it in the drawing board.
I don't see any purpose now for a destroyer in the middle of the 055 and 052D. Its just an additional developmental and manufacturing headache. Making more 055 will lower its cost, with a highly trained production pipeline making them as smooth as a machine. Its only a matter of the 055's inevitable maturation with bug squashing and reliability improvements.
I also think that 055 will be grouped into two specialized flotillas, one in the north and one in the south. For now, there is no need to seed other destroyer divisions to train them. Previously, migrating non 052D equipped destroyer divisions took quite an effort (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 10th Destroyer Division). These DDs have older and even antique destroyers. You have to train them by seeding them with one new 052D for each (117, 161, 131, and 120 for those respective DDs), then use that ship to train the rest of the personnel for other 052Ds to come.
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It isn't trivial to 'just' move something like a DF-26 to 'some island', and it needs like various support vehicles and logistics, if it needs to fire more than 1 missile.
Shilao once said the crew number of 055 is slightly larger than 052D, just a few dozens more, but having a much larger living space which makes 055 having the best living condition among all surface combatants of PLAN. (However, 901 AOE still have the best living condition of all ships in PLAN.)
Also, considering commanding structure of 055, it can handle quite a few more personnel on board.
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