Jiangkai Type 054 Frigate

China operates a large number of FFG guided missile frigates with marginal ASW capability. Some of these operate one or two ASW helicopters and are armed with HQ-7 SAMs. These include eight Jiangwei II (053H3), two of which may go to Pakistan if it can ever pay for them. There also are two Maanshan (054) class building (which may operate the newer Ka-28 Helix) and more will follow rapidly.

By early 2003 information became available on a new design frigate to succeed the JIANGWEI class. although its simple configuration has been hailed as "Chinese Lafayette frigate ", but the ship is still equipped with the previous eight-unit Haihongqi-7 anti - aircraft missile , slightly outdated. Then a modified 054 solid model photo appeared on the network, and many major improvements were made in design and equipment, which greatly enhanced its air defense combat capability, including the ship's first modified vertical launch system, and the air defense radar replaced with the Russian Top-Plate, and replaced with the 730 short range anti-aircraft that China began to use in the 2000s to replace the AK-630 cannon.

By early Spring 2003 it was possible to view this frigate under construction at Shanghai's Hongdu Zhonghua shipyard. This frigate, Hull number 525, was launched on 11 September 2003. The Jiangkai-class Type 054 is also being built at Guangzhou's Huangpu shipyard, where Hull number 526, was launched on 30 November 2003. While the Hongdu shipyard used conventional ship construction techniques, in which the ship is gradually built-up, the Huangpu yard used modern techniques in which built the ship from pre-fabricated components.

The hull design of the frigate 054 may be derived from the F-16U frigate previously used for export. Compared to the previous domestic Jiang Wei class frigates, Type 054 frigates in the appearance of more concise and avant-garde, completely out of the Jianghu class, Jiang Wei frigates, upper structure, scattered, low impression. Compared to the new 052B/C missile Chinese navy destroyer New Type 054 frigate ship body contour is more concise and succinct, with the integration of a ladder shaped superstructure, bridge, tower and mast before the compound after the mast / chimney structure and so on are sloped (and tilt angle are generally obviously, avoid sharp) and complex structure, some shipboard equipment such as cranes and other boats have also been bulwark shelter, make the advanced level in the Type 054 frigate warship stealth design is close to the west. The displacement and ship size of the frigate 054 are much larger than the previous displacement.

The power, CPP and weapons systems of the first batch of four Type 054 FFGs are all imported from Russia or western countries. This frigate, dubbed the "Type 054" by several sources, makes extensive use of stealth shaping, along the lines of French LAFAYETTE-class frigates purchased by Taiwan. While Chinese design bureaus could produce such designs, it is possible that either France or Russia provided assistance. One compromise of stealth is the higher bow to improve sea-keeping. While the stealth shape and [presumably] improved combat systems would improve warfighting, the armament of the Type 054 may not represent a great improvement over the JIANGWEI. The new ship is probably armed with the same HQ-7 SAM carried by the JIANGWEI II. The Type 054, like the JIANGWEI, is equipped with a medium-frequency sonar, suited for active-search in the shallow waters off Taiwan.

One clear improvment is the Russian Kamov Ka-28 ASW/Missile guidance helicopter. It is also equipped with CIWS systems similar to the Russian AK-630. In April 2002 the Franco-German company SEMT Pielstick announced that 8 x 16 PA6 STC engines will equip the first two frigates of a new generation to be built in Shanghai. The 16 cylinder PA6 STC will be manufactured under a license agreement by Shaanxi Diesel Engine Works.

The serial numbers of the No. 525 and 526 indicated they will be deployed in the Eastern Sea (Donghai) Fleet. To meet the goal of "balanced development" of the Chinese fleets, futher Type 054 FFGs may also be disposed primarily at the Southern Sea (Naihai) and Donghai Fleets, as it was the case with Type 053H3 Jiangwei II FFG.

The 054 frigate can be said to be the first real stealth frigate of China's navy. Its advent showed that Chinese ship design had entered a new level and was in line with the world's advanced standards. When the 054 frigate was publicly unveiled at the time, its new ship design was amazing. The fly in the ointment was that due to the limitations of the ship-borne weapons at the time, the air defense weapons continued to use the Haihongqi-7 ship-to-air missile on the 053H3 frigate. Soon after, the 054A frigate debuted, but the 32-unit vertical launcher did little to fill the shortage of ship-to-air weapons. Later, it was confirmed that this set of vertical launchers used to fire the "Fish-8" anti-submarine missiles. As a result, the two 054 frigates gradually faded out of sight.

In late 2019, a 054 ship entered the factory, which made people think about it. From the new photos exposed by social networking sites, a 054 frigate basically dismantled all the weapons and electronic equipment on the ship. The ship is either the No. 525 "Maanshan" ship of the Type 054 frigate. It is speculated that the 054 frigate modified weapons and electronic equipment will be similar to the 054A ship, that is, it will be equipped with multi-unit vertical launchers, and the near-defense system will be upgraded to 730 or 1130 guns. The 054 frigate 02 ship 526 "Wenzhou" ship may also accept such upgrades. When the upgrade was completed, the Navy would have the equivalent of two new 054A frigates.

In 2013, foreign experts estimated the cost of each 054A frigate to be $ 335 million. This is calculated based on the offer of three frigates provided by China to the Thai Navy in early 2013. At that time, the Thai Navy planned to purchase three 054A frigates at a price of $ 1 billion, with a single cost of $ 333 million. But the Chinese offer is higher, with a cost of $ 375 million per ship. According to rumors, the construction cost of domestic 054A frigate is 1.4 billion yuan, about 200 million US dollars.

Since its entry, the 054A frigate has covered most of the world's oceans, whether it is the South China Sea battle cruise, the East China Sea police cruise, the Gulf of Aden escort, various international joint military exercises, or various naval and live-fire exercises organized by the Navy. Its figure. The 054A frigate is inexpensive and inexpensive. The ship's regional air defense capabilities, short-range defense, anti-ship capabilities, and anti-submarine capabilities all belong to the upper-middle level of world-class frigates. Equipped with two 8-unit C-802 anti-ship missiles, and launching a 32-unit Red Flag-16 ship-to-air missile launcher with a range of more than 40 kilometers, it can engage multiple targets and perform mid-range regional air defense operations. At the same time, they can also launch a vertical launch of the Yu-8 rocket to assist the torpedo.

With the scale of 30 ships already built in the 054A, a new generation of general frigates has also been put on the agenda. In the future, the two major shipyards in Shanghai Hudong and Guangzhou Huangpu will be fully engaged in the construction of the new type 054B frigate.