All fair points, but there are some crucial facts that are often overlooked. For example, yes, Chinese DDGs have fewer cells, but the Chinese VLS cells are much larger than the American Mark 41. The 9m CUVLS has almost 3 times the volume of the longest 7.7m Mk 41, allowing for much heavier missiles to equipped. All the more impressive considering that the 055 has 112 of them.
The PLAN is also more or less the only navy in the world that has a supersonic, VLS-launched AShM, the YJ-18A, until the USN rolls out the VLS-launched variant of the LRASM, which is still a couple of years away.
This isn't even considering the dual-band AESA radars on the 052Cs, 052Ds, and 055s, which allows them to pick up on and target hundreds of targets simultaneously if they work as advertised. The USN only has one sensor suite with similar capabilities - the Ford's DBR - which is now a cancelled program because even the USN deemed it 'overkill', and too expensive. Only the AB Flight III's SPY-6 will be
It is true though, that Chinese SAMs are somewhat lackluster - or at the least, yet unproven. The PLAN is probably hard-pressed to develop short and medium-range missiles that can quad-packed or dual-packed, which would free up a lot of missile capacity for other munitions. Also, as you've mentioned, the 055 doesn't have a SM-3 equivalent.
Yes, no, maybe. Unless we get our hands on the design's exact specifications, we won't know for sure.
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