056 class FFL/corvette

I suspect the lack of a hanger on 056 is more a function of the dearth of helicopters in PLAN (and possibly a lack of clarity about the future of rotary capabilities at the time) than anything else.

The addition of a hanger for full-time deployment of a helicopter is probably the single most significant change I would expect to see in an 056 successor debuting in the early to mid-2020s.

Lethe said:

I suspect the lack of a hanger on 056 is more a function of the dearth of helicopters in PLAN (and possibly a lack of clarity about the future of rotary capabilities at the time) than anything else.

The addition of a hanger for full-time deployment of a helicopter is probably the single most significant change I would expect to see in an 056 successor debuting in the early to mid-2020s.

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I'm gonna disagree on dearth of helos in PLAN as the primary reason for lack of hangar with the 056. These ships will easily serve 30 years and it would be extremely lacking in foresight to design a ship without a hangar just because of a current lack of helos in the roster. Helo programs have been in the works for years so the aspiration to field helos in PLAN has always been there. Rather, the primary reason for 056's lack of hangar is simply it's intended mission and budget cost. The 054s are PLAN's smallest vessel that sports a hangar.

joshuatree said:

The 054s are PLAN's smallest vessel that sports a hangar.

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Actually the 053H3s (and some earlier 053 versions) also have a helicopter hangar (but then they were the PLAN's most modern frigates when built).

schenkus said:

Actually the 053H3s (and some earlier 053 versions) also have a helicopter hangar (but then they were the PLAN's most modern frigates when built).

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Thanks, you are correct. I was only thinking of the "modern" lineup in their roster (056, 054s, 052C/D, 055). I consider 053H3s as sorta their transitional phase but that's just my opinion. However, pointing out 053H3s having hangars definitely backs the argument up that the 056s were built with no hangar as intentional of its role and budget, not because of lack of helos.

I wonder, in whole force structure of the Chinese Navy, with FACs Houbei class as smallest surface combat vessel and frigates like Type 054A as mid-level and bunch of destroyers ( especially Type 052D ) as high tier, just how necesarry are Type 056 corvettes ( especially GP-variant )?

abc123 said:

I wonder, in whole force structure of the Chinese Navy, with FACs Houbei class as smallest surface combat vessel and frigates like Type 054A as mid-level and bunch of destroyers ( especially Type 052D ) as high tier, just how necesarry are Type 056 corvettes ( especially GP-variant )?

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Having type 56 mean freeing type 54A from picketing duty in first island chain. China has a long coast line
Until recently Chinese naval doctrine call for mastery of first island Chain which meant patrolling and show off the flag in peace time. China is now in transition to far away sea control where type 54 can be most helpful in conjunction with Type 52C&D

For ASW work,

Hendrik_2000 said:

Having type 56 mean freeing type 54A from picketing duty in first island chain. China has a long coast line
Until recently Chinese naval doctrine call for mastery of first island Chain which meant patrolling and show off the flag in peace time. China is now in transition to far away sea control where type 54 can be most helpful in conjunction with Type 52C&D

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Plus in wartime, a Variable Depth Sonar doesn't care if it's mounted on a Type-54 Frigate (cost: $330M?) or a Type-56 Corvette (cost: $100M?)

And within the first island chain, the Type-56 can expect air support from bases on mainland China.

Fixed wing MPA/ASW aircraft like the Y-9 also provide more capability than the equivalent in helicopters. The P-8 Poseidon to Seahawk cost ratio is around 1:3 as I recall, yet the Poseidon has way better range, payload, endurance, speed etc than 3 Seahawks. I expect something similar applies with China.

And there's AWACs/fighters closeby as well for air superiority.

Yes, yes, I know all of that. But, with both the frigate production allready in 20sh and Type 052D planned in 20-30, I wonder why 40 ( maybe even 60 ) corvettes and why not all of them are ASW variant?

abc123 said:

Yes, yes, I know all of that. But, with both the frigate production allready in 20sh and Type 052D planned in 20-30, I wonder why 40 ( maybe even 60 ) corvettes and why not all of them are ASW variant?

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Do you know how many DDG and Frigate? The US have close to 70 and Japan close to 45 Australia 20.Korea maybe another 25 Britain maybe another 25 French I don't know wild guess another 30?

So having 50 large combatant is nothing China still outgun by the western navy. It take China 9 years to built type 54 to 25 copies sofar It will take another decade for China to augment the navy large combatant
So what happened when there is war in the next 10 years ?.

Hendrik_2000 said:

Do you know how many DDG and Frigate? The US have close to 70 and Japan close to 45 Australia 20.Korea maybe another 25 Britain maybe another 25 French I don't know wild guess another 30?

So having 50 large combatant is nothing China still outgun by the western navy. It take China 9 years to built type 54 to 25 copies sofar It will take another decade for China to augment the navy large combatant
So what happened when there is war in the next 10 years ?.

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I have no idea where you are getting these numbers from. US has 96, Japan has 42, Australia has 11, Korea has 25, UK has 19, France has 23. Of these, no UK and French ships would ever realistically be involved in any war with China. And neither would Korea or Australia unless their vital strategic interests were being threatened directly by China. Neither Taiwan nor DYT would count as vital strategic interests for either of these countries. As for the US, almost half are deployed either on the East Coast or in the European theater, leaving about 58 available to the Asian theater. 18 Japanese ships are either obsolescent or semi-obsolescent, leaving 24 modern warships. So in any realistic scenario involving major naval conflict between China and the US + Japan, you're looking at roughly 80-odd ships to deal with, with most of the US ships homeported in Guam, Hawaii or the West Coast, meaning their endurance is going to be much less than Chinese warships deployed right off their own coast.