Type 054A frigate

NATO codename: Jiang Kai Class II frigate

Reference data

Ship length: 135 meters

Broadside: 16 meters

Draft: 4.5 m

Displacement

Standard: 3600 tons

Full load: 4200 tons

Crew: 180 people

Dynamical system:

CODAD4×S.E.M.T.Pielstick16PA6STC diesel engine/27000 hp twin-shaft CPP

Endurance: 4000 nm / 18 knots

Speed: 27 knots

Marine electrical system:

Radar:

1×382 Type 3DE frequency-to-air search radar

1×364 (SR-64) X-frequency 2D air/sea search radar

2×754 Type I Navigation/Helicopter Air Traffic Control Radar

4× MR-90 fire control radar

1× Type 366 anti-ship missile fire control radar

1×H/LJP-349 naval gun fire control radar

Antagonism:

Type 922-1 Electronic Support System

Type 751 electronic countermeasures system

2×726-4A24 combined jamming missile launcher

Sonar:

1×307 Type 307 medium-frequency bow active/passive sonar

1×H/SJG-206 towed array sonar

Carrier-based armament:

NAVAL GUN: 1×PJ26 SINGLE-BARRELED 76MM STEALTH NAVAL GUN

Missile: 4×8 vertical launch system (HHQ-16 anti-aircraft missile and rocket-assisted torpedo)

2× quadruple YJ-83 anti-ship missile launcher

Close-range defense: 2×7-tube 30mm caliber Type 730 short-range defense weapon system

Anti-submarine: Type 2×87 six-tube anti-submarine rocket depth launcher

1 carrier-based aircraft: Ka-28 anti-submarine helicopter or Z-9C anti-submarine helicopter

Ship name, port number, serial number, shipyard launching time, service time assignment, subordination

Xuzhou No. 53001 ship Huangpu 2006-09-30 2008-01-27 East China Sea Fleet drove 3 detachments

Zhoushan No. 52902 ship Hudong December 21, 2006 January 3, 2008 East China Sea Fleet drove 3 detachments

Huangshan No. 57003 ship Huangpu 2007-03-19 2008-05-13 South China Sea Fleet drove 2 detachments

Hengyang No. 56804 ship Hudong 2007-05-23 2008-06-30 South China Sea Fleet drove 2 detachments

Yuncheng No. 57105 ship Huangpu 2009-02-08-2010-01-27 South China Sea Fleet 2 detachment

Yulin No. 56906 Hudong 2009-04-28-2010-02-01 South China Sea Fleet 2 Detachment

Yiyang No. 54807 ship Whampoa November 17, 2009 October 26, 2010 East China Sea Fleet drove 6 detachments

Changzhou No. 54908 ship Hudong 2010-05-21 2011-05-30 East China Sea Fleet drove 6 detachments

Yantai No. 53809 ship Whampoa 2010-08-24 2011-07-30 North Sea Fleet drove 1 detachment

Yancheng No. 54610 ship Hudong 2011-04-27 2012-06-05 North Sea Fleet drove 1 detachment

Hengshui No. 57211 ship Huangpu 2011-05-21 2012-07-09 South China Sea Fleet drove 9 detachments

Liuzhou No. 57312 ship Hudong December 10, 2011 December 26, 2012 South China Sea Fleet drove 9 detachments

Linyi No. 54713 ship Huangpu December 13, 2011 November 22, 2012 North Sea Fleet drive 1 detachment

Yueyang No. 57514 ship Huangpu 2012-05-09 2013-05-03 South China Sea Fleet drove 9 detachments

Weifang No. 55015 ship Hudong 2012-07-09-2013-06-22 North Sea Fleet 1 detachment

Sanya No. 57416 ship Hudong November 30, 2012 December 13, 2013 South China Sea Fleet drove 9 detachments

Huanggang No. 57717 ship Hudong on April 28, 2013 and January 16, 2015 East China Sea Fleet drove 6 detachments

Yangzhou No. 57818 ship Hudong September 30, 2013 September 21, 2015 East China Sea Fleet drove 6 detachments

Daqing No. 57619 ship Huangpu October 08, 2013 January 16, 2015 North Sea Fleet drove 10 detachments

Handan 57920 ship Huangpu July 26, 2014 August 19, 2015 North Sea Fleet drove 10 detachments

Jingzhou 53221 ship Hudong January 22, 2015 early 2016 unknown

Xiangtan 53122 ship Whampoa March 19, 2015 early 2016 unknown

Development History

In 2003, Guangzhou Huangpu Shipyard and Shanghai Hudong Shipyard each launched the earliest model showing the existence of 054A, a Type 054 frigate, although its concise configuration was praised by the outside world as the "China Lafayette-class frigate", but the ship is still equipped with the previous eight-mounted Haihongqi-7 air defense missile, slightly outdated. Subsequently, a modified 054 mock-up photo appeared on the Internet, and many major improvements were made in terms of design and equipment, greatly enhancing its air defense combat capabilities, including the bow modification of the vertical launch system, the replacement of the anti-aircraft radar with a Russian-style Top-Plate, and the replacement of the AK-630 cannon with the 730 close-in defense gun that China began to put into practical use in the 2000s.

After several years of silence, in 2006, a new version of the 054 frigate under construction finally appeared on the Internet, which was almost identical to the model except for the main gun model (the model still used the old 100mm naval gun, but the actual ship was replaced with a 76mm naval gun), and this improved 054 was given the code name 054A, which was called "Jiangkai-IIclass" in the West. Obviously, at the beginning, the design work of 054 and the development of the Haihongqi-16 air defense missile system were carried out as a complete set, only because the development schedule of the Haihongqi-16 could not keep up with the progress of the hull, in order to avoid causing too much gap in the shipbuilding/military construction of the Chinese Navy, two 054 equipped with the existing Haihongqi-7 were built to cushion the gear, so as to verify the hull design in advance and serve as the basis for subsequent ship design improvements.

The construction process

Like the previous Type 054 frigates, the Guangzhou Huangpu Shipyard and the Shanghai Hudong Shipyard continued to build the 054A in a rotational mode, with staggered port numbers. Since the two port numbers 527 and 528 have been occupied by the two Jiangwei-class II (053H3) missile frigates launched in 2004 by the Hudong and Huangpu factories respectively, the 054A board number has jumped from 529. Following the sequence of the Jiangkai-I class, the Hudong Plant was responsible for the construction of the first (ship number 529) and the third ship (ship number 568) of the 054A, while the Huangpu Plant built the second (ship number 530) and the fourth ship (ship number 570), and so on. In terms of progress, the 054A first ship (530) built by Huangpu Plant is the first ship of its class to start construction, which was launched on September 30, 2006, and officially named Xuzhou on October 30.

The 054A No. 2 ship (529) built by Hudong was launched on December 21, 2006 after the first ship in Huangpu (on the same day, the Type 071 dock landing ship No. 1 built by Hudong was launched together in the same dry dock), and then named Zhoushan (the original East China Sea Fleet had a Jianghu III. class (053H2) - 537 Zhoushan, which was renamed Cangzhou on December 30, 2006). Since both shipyards use dry dock water injection to launch the boats, there is no concern about the impact force of the traditional slipway launch, so the completion of the 054A when launching is quite high, and all weapons and electronic antennas have been installed.

The Zhoushan was first commissioned on 3 January 2008 and the Xuzhou was commissioned on 27 January 2008. On March 18, 2007, the second 054A ship of the Huangpu Plant was launched, with the port number 570, which was officially named Huangshan around October 2007, and then entered service with the South China Sea Fleet on May 13, 2008 The second 054A was launched on May 23 of the same year, and on June 30, 2008, it was named Chaohu and joined the South China Sea Fleet (on July 22, 2011, Chaohu City was downgraded from a prefecture-level city to a county-level city and lost the qualification to name the missile frigate, and the original jurisdiction area was merged into the three cities of Hefei, Wuhu and Ma'anshan, and Chaohu was also renamed Hengyang on February 28, 2012), so far the first batch of four 054A have all been formed.

Since then, the construction process of Type 054A frigates has never stopped,

Technical features:

Hull design

The 054A and the previous 054 are generally the same in design, but the 054A has added a lot of new equipment, so the full load displacement is a little higher than that of the 054, reaching about 4200 tons.

In terms of hull changes, the side chamfer line of the 054 starts from the bow to the stern, so from the bow, The superstructure is adducted from the upper part of the helicopter deck, and the folded angle line of the first four 054A ships is improved, so the entire side of the ship is floating outward from the bow to the stern, and it does not begin to shrink inward until the bridge part, which may partially increase the radar cross-sectional area and increase the upper weight, but also increase the usable deck area of the bow and stern (so its maximum broadside width is slightly increased), especially the helicopter deck area is widened, which is more beneficial for helicopter take-off and landing.

Starting from the fifth 054A Yuncheng (571), the bow baffle was changed to a polygonal line and shrunk inward, which seems to be to reduce the radar cross-sectional area and enhance seaworthiness, but the overall polygonal position is still the same as that of the first four 054A.

Hair draping design

In terms of air defense, the biggest improvement of the 054A is to open the launch air defense missile system with a new vertical launch device, replacing the Haihongqi-7 used by the original 054. The vertically launched anti-aircraft missile of the 054A is the Hongqi-2000 medium-range anti-aircraft missile (HQ-16) developed by China in the 16s, and the PLA officially designated H/AJK16. In order to accommodate the installation of vertical launchers, the Type 054A removed a raised platform in front of the original bridge of the Type 054 (i.e., where the HHQ-7 launcher was mounted) to expand the deck area of the B gun position. The vertical launch system of 054A has changed the "runner" and "cold launch" characteristics of the previous Russian system, and uses the "one shot per tube" checkered design and "hot launch" used in the West, and the design of each vertical launch system module eight tubes (2X4) is also the same as that of the main Western vertical launch systems such as the American MK-41 and the French Sylver.

The Hongqi-16 anti-aircraft missile has a strong multi-target attack capability, and one fire launch unit can simultaneously track 8 targets and attack 4 of them. And it can attack a wide range of targets, from high-flying aircraft to low-flying cruise missiles, and even precision-guided weapons thrown by aircraft, the Hongqi-16 air defense missile can effectively fight. To a large extent, the Hongqi-16 anti-aircraft missile is also capable of countering the "Wild Weasel" air defense suppression attack launched by enemy air power.

Main gun design

In terms of main guns, the 054A did not continue to use the 052B/C and 054 Chinese-made H/PJ-87 single-barreled 100mm naval guns, but instead adopted a Chinese-made PJ26 single-barreled 76MM stealth naval gun, which can be called the Chinese version of the Russian AK-176M 76mm naval gun. In order to seek a new medium-caliber naval gun to replace the original old twin-mounted 57mm naval gun, the Chinese Navy decided to import the technology of AK-176M and its RFCSSLASKA firing control system from Russia as early as 1994 (and at the same time purchase a small number of original A-176M naval guns for the replacement of some of China's existing small ships, such as the "Red Arrow") In 2003, the Zhengzhou Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (i.e., Zhengzhou 713 Research Institute) completed the localization operation, becoming a new generation of standard medium-caliber naval guns of the Chinese Navy.

Marine electrical design

The top of the main mast and chimney mast of the 054A is equipped with a Chinese-made roof-plate 3D air-to-air search radar, replacing the original Type 054 360 radar installed at this location, and China has named this localized version of the SeaEagle S/C radar. The top radar has been used in many other new generation of Chinese ships such as the 052B, 051C, and Hyundai-class missile destroyers, which can be called the quasi-standard air search radar for China's new generation fleet.

Compared with the original Russian top plate, the Seahawk S/C seems to use improved antenna technology, the appearance is relatively simple, omitting a small strip antenna at the top of the original top plate, and the mechanical structure of the antenna has also been changed. The roof of the bridge of the 054A is equipped with a set of Chinese localization of the Russian MINERAL-ME fire control radar system, replacing the original 054 Type 344 fire control radar. It can provide target calibration and mid-route data update for the YJ-83 anti-ship missiles on the ship.

The top of the rear mast of 054A still maintains the 364 type X-band short-range sea/air search and tracking radar with a spherical cover, and the platform in front of the main mast is equipped with an LR-66 naval gun fire control radar used to guide 76mm naval guns, and the deck below LR-66 is also equipped with a GDG-775 electro-optical shooting controller, integrating an infrared thermal imager, a CCD camera and a laser rangefinder, which can also be used to guide and control 76mm naval guns. Above the helicopter hangar is a satellite communication antenna modeled after the SNIT240, replacing the two tactical satellite communication antennas of the 054. In terms of sonar, the configuration of the 054A is the same as that of the 054, with a Type 307 active/passive sonar system in the bow (located in a spherical shield in the bow), a Type 206 towed array sonar in the stern, in addition to the Type 064 communication sonar and the Type 723 sonar environmental monitoring equipment on the ship.

Other designs

The 054A replaced the original 054's PJ-13 (AK-630) 30mm rapid-fire gun with the Type 730 30mm close-in force weapon system standardized at the beginning of this century, and two Type 730 guns were mounted on both sides of the chimney. The electronic warfare system of the 054A is about the same as that of the 054, but the two jamming missile launchers have been changed to the 726-4A configuration, each with 24 launch tubes (divided into four layers, one more than the original 726-4).

Service dynamics

Escort the Gulf of Aden

In 2008, in response to the increasing piracy in Somalia, the United Nations Security Council adopted resolutions 1816 on 2 June 2008 and 1838 on 20 October 2008, respectively, allowing foreign warships to enter Somali waters to pursue pirates and to use the necessary means to combat piracy in international waters.

On April 2, 2009, China's second batch of escort formations to change the defense of Somali waters departed, including the Huangshan Type 054A frigate, which has since become a frequent visitor to the Somali escort group. The 054A's moderate tonnage, sufficient equipment and good fuel economy of diesel engine make it an ideal type of ship for Somali escort missions.

Escort in the Mediterranean

As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, in order to ensure the smooth destruction of the weapons of the Syrian chemical Yancheng and the Kirov-class cruiser of the Russian Navy, create favorable conditions for the political settlement of the Syrian issue, and implement UN Security Council Resolution 2118 and the decisions of the OPCW on the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons, China decided in December 2013 to send the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy to participate in the Syrian chemical weapons maritime escort.

On December 19, 2013, the United Nations Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) announced that Norwegian and Danish transport ships and naval frigates would transport chemical weapons to an Italian port in the Mediterranean, with China and Russia providing maritime escorts, and then the U.S. Navy would transport them to international waters for destruction on specially equipped warships.

The Yancheng ship set sail from the port of Limassol, Cyprus at 2 a.m. local time on January 7, 2014, and headed for the scheduled assembly point in Syria to form an escort formation with ships from Russia, Denmark, Norway and other countries. Earlier, the Yancheng also sent personnel to the Danish combat support ship "Esborne Snell," the command ship of the Danish-Norwegian joint formation, to participate in a meeting on tactical operation planning for the escort of Syrian chemical weapons, and exchanged views with all sides on relevant tactical details such as communication and liaison, security regulations, and emergency response.

On the afternoon of January 7, 2014 local time, the Yancheng safely escorted the first batch of Syrian chemical weapons to the predetermined sea area, and the first batch of Syrian chemical weapons escort missions carried out by Chinese warships was successfully completed.

At 15:35 local time on May 5, 2014, the Danish transport ship berthed at the port of Latakia, Syria, and began to load the seventh batch of chemical weapons. The escort vessels of the mission parties patrol and guard the pre-designated area of responsibility. Two hours and 30 minutes later, the Danish transport ship completed its loading work and sailed out of the port, and the Yancheng ship and the escort ships of Russia, Denmark, Norway and other countries began to accompany the escort. At 18:56 local time on the 5th, under the joint escort of the Chinese, Russian, Danish, and Norwegian ship formations, the Danish transport ship responsible for transporting Syrian chemical weapons sailed safely out of Syrian territorial waters. So far, the Yancheng ship of the Chinese Navy has successfully completed its seventh and final Syrian chemical weapons escort mission and will return to the Gulf of Aden.

On the morning of March 8, 2014 local time, the Yancheng ship of the Chinese Navy and the Huangshan ship, the replacement force of the Syrian chemical weapons maritime escort, met in the Mediterranean Sea and held a mission handover ceremony at the Yancheng ship. According to the Navy's order, the Huangshan took over from the Yancheng and officially assumed the task of escorting Syria's chemical weapons by sea. At 17:15 local time on March 9, under the joint escort of warships from China, Russia, Denmark, Norway and other countries, the Norwegian transport ship responsible for transporting Syrian chemical weapons sailed safely out of Syrian territorial waters. So far, the Chinese Navy's Huangshan ship has successfully completed the eighth batch of Syrian chemical weapons maritime escort missions, which is also the first batch of Syrian chemical weapons maritime escort missions completed by the Huangshan ship after replacing the Yancheng ship.

At about 12:30 local time on March 14, 2014, the Chinese-Russian and Danno warship formations and the Danno transport ship entered Syria's territorial waters one after another. The whole ship immediately entered the first level of combat readiness for deployment. On the foredeck and take-off and landing platforms of the warships, the anti-chemical detachment carried out drills in such subjects as fixed-point monitoring, air detection, and water quality testing in connection with the course of the mission, and conducted practical training on some new reconnaissance equipment. In the conference room, Professor Wang Yongan, an expert in anti-chemical medicine, combined with his rich work experience, organized the medical security team to carry out training on the use of anti-chemical drugs on the spot. At 17:45 local time on March 14, 2014, under the joint escort of warships from China, Russia, Denmark, Norway and other countries, the Danish and Norwegian transport ships responsible for transporting Syrian chemical weapons sailed safely out of Syrian territorial waters. So far, the Huangshan ship of the Chinese Navy has successfully completed the ninth batch of Syrian chemical weapons maritime escort missions.

Overall rating

The Type 054A frigate is a very good frigate, and on the whole, the Type 054A frigate has a concise configuration and a balanced air defense/anti-ship/anti-submarine configuration, which can be called a fairly high level of design. Despite the technical level of the Type 054A frigate, the armament assembly is not a top-of-the-line configuration, but at a relatively low cost, excellent multi-purpose capabilities are achieved. The ship is not only equipped with advanced regional anti-aircraft missiles and long-range anti-ship missiles, but also has the advantages of long range, high reliability, and easy mass production.

In terms of quantity, the Type 054A will become the backbone of China's new-generation fleet, and its seaworthiness and combat capability are superior to those of the Chinese Navy's main force in the past.

With the commissioning of China's new generation of destroyers and aircraft carriers, the Type 054A frigate can play a good auxiliary role in the aircraft carrier formation, and is an important force for the Chinese Navy to move towards the deep blue.

The above information is from the Internet

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