056 class FFL/corvette

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palejade

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Do we know when the ship for Algeria will be delivered? My Janes' reference book says that there is only one being sold to Algeria, is that right?
 

uinahime.chifune

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They likely won't be considered high priority. Their stealth features, low profile, and small size won't make it easy to show up on radar either. If I were the opponent I would attempt to strike at the high value, high threat targets first; these small ships would be low priority and part of the mop up.

Lack of survivabilty isn't the reason why 056s are being turned over to the Chinese Coast Guard and not the 056A. Its the lack of both TAS and VDS on the 056 that hampers them for effective ASW work compared to the 056A. The 056 seems like a rare mistake for the PLAN. They must have originally planned to build a lot of them, but somewhere in the production, they realized a mistake, and quickly altered as much of the contracts as they can to change the ships for ASW work. However, a number of ships already have their steel cut and cannot be altered. These were allowed to proceed.

With the PLAN wanting to get more ASW frigates, this time on more 054A, its possible the surge in demand for 054A runs into conflict with the CCG's plans to acquire more ships, as both CCG ships and 054A are built using the same shipyards. So they may have internally worked out a solution. Instead of ordering more ships, the CCG gets twenty 056 from the PLAN, and the PLAN gets all the building shipyard slots it needs to make more 054A.
I think it is more that the PLAN did not expect China to be so rich in the future.
 

Tam

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I think it is more that the PLAN did not expect China to be so rich in the future.

I think its more like a rapid and massive switch from basic doctrine from a shallow water fleet to a deep water fleet that caught PLAN by surprise all of a sudden. They are heavily invested and modernizing their shallow fleet (022s and such included) then midway suddenly found former plans already set in motion no longer fit their need. Conversion from coastal defense force defending sovereign waters to a full Mahanian navy was set in mere years.
 

Tam

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Maybe realised they need to speed the frack up after 2016 south china sea incident.

SCS incidents go back a long time. Remember that collision between a J-8II and a P-3?

I think the shift started around 2010 and 2012. Not long after China's large fleet of littoral surface combatants started looking increasingly redundant and non supportive to this new idea. Then you have the sudden pivot to ASW which aligned with the increased intrusion of foreign submarines into near China waters and that gave the program new impetus.
 

Tam

Brigadier
Registered Member
Maybe realised they need to speed the frack up after 2016 south china sea incident.

SCS incidents go back a long time. Remember that collision between a J-8II and a P-3?

I think the shift started around 2010 and 2012. Not long after China's large fleet of littoral surface combatants started looking increasingly redundant and non supportive to this new idea. Then you have the sudden pivot to ASW which aligned with the intrusion of foreign submarines into near China waters and that gave the program new impetus.
 

Tyler

Captain
Registered Member
They likely won't be considered high priority. Their stealth features, low profile, and small size won't make it easy to show up on radar either. If I were the opponent I would attempt to strike at the high value, high threat targets first; these small ships would be low priority and part of the mop up.

Lack of survivabilty isn't the reason why 056s are being turned over to the Chinese Coast Guard and not the 056A. Its the lack of both TAS and VDS on the 056 that hampers them for effective ASW work compared to the 056A. The 056 seems like a rare mistake for the PLAN. They must have originally planned to build a lot of them, but somewhere in the production, they realized a mistake, and quickly altered as much of the contracts as they can to change the ships for ASW work. However, a number of ships already have their steel cut and cannot be altered. These were allowed to proceed.

With the PLAN wanting to get more ASW frigates, this time on more 054A, its possible the surge in demand for 054A runs into conflict with the CCG's plans to acquire more ships, as both CCG ships and 054A are built using the same shipyards. So they may have internally worked out a solution. Instead of ordering more ships, the CCG gets twenty 056 from the PLAN, and the PLAN gets all the building shipyard slots it needs to make more 054A.
Expanding shipyard capacity would solve all these problems. Besides, they need to expand ship building capacity for strategic and economic reasons.
 

AndrewS

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Expanding shipyard capacity would solve all these problems. Besides, they need to expand ship building capacity for strategic and economic reasons.

Overall, there is actually excess shipyard capacity in China. It has been consolidating for some years now
 

Tam

Brigadier
Registered Member
The number of Chinese shipyards hit a peak around 10 years ago and has declined ever since. That's due to the glut of ships that were built then and the loss of business. It is easy to lose your shirts in this business. Ironically, its now the reverse, with shipyards now running at full and the global shortage of ships. World shipping goes through unhealthy cycles of shortage and surplus, and it has a similar analogy in the semiconductor world. Since the time of peak shipyard, Chinese shipyards have been consolidating, with losers being absorbed by winners with one merger after another, which will result in fewer, bigger and more sophisticated members. SOEs are no exception. This is also true with other shipyards around the world as survivors try to stay afloat, few more go under each, and few more are consolidated.

The shipyards China used for its military and government vessels are a select few, and that knowledge and expertise isn't quickly transferred without retraining and new equipment.
 
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