Modernisation of Three Old DDG Classes: 956, 051B, 052B

[Shotgunner51]

State secret. Russian will not like it if they see the picture.

Come on ... well I guess MLU would've already involved Russian engineers who built the ships, refitting might actually be more complicated than building brand new ones.

 

[Beast]

well I guess MLU would've already involved Russian engineers who built the ships, refitting might actually be more complicated than building brand new ones

Its more like Russian needs China shipyard and Chinese engineer to upgrade their Sov. The student has surpassed their teacher and become the master, now its Chinese need to teach them a few new things.

 

[Shotgunner51]

Graphic denotation of DDG 167 before and after MLU.

View attachment 386983

By now 051B (see below 167) and two of the Sov's (see below 136, 137) have completed MLU, the two 052B should be done soon (no pic yet, see CG by an enthusiast). One common feature between these refitted destroyers is that they all got YJ-12 supersonic ASh missiles which is also installed in Pakistani 054A/P.

 

[Shotgunner51]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1467503238249594884

 

[Shotgunner51]

Rarely seen these days: Type 052 DDG (pennant #112) during a maritime training assessment in late December, 2021. After last MLU in 2011, both ships of this class (pennant #112 & 113) are expected to retire around 2025 after 30 years of service.

 

[lcloo]

Rarely seen these days: Type 052 DDG (pennant #112) during a maritime training assessment in late December, 2021. After last MLU in 2011, both ships of this class (pennant #112 & 113) are expected to retire around 2025 after 30 years of service.

View attachment 808677View attachment 808678View attachment 808679View attachment 808680

Personally, I think PLAN should consider extend the service of #112 and #113 a few years beyond 30 years (2024-2025), mainly because of:-

1) to keep a larger pool of experienced sailors for future transfer to new destroyers build after 2025.

2) to maintain the numbers of surface combat ships during this time of geopolitical tensions with AUKUS, India and Japan.

I also hope that after retiring from active service, they can turn #112 and #113 into training ships, replacing the older ones consist of the obsolete type 053 FFG (#517 and #519).

 

[Shotgunner51]

Personally, I think PLAN should consider extend the service of #112 and #113 a few years beyond 30 years (2024-2025), mainly because of:-

1) to keep a larger pool of experienced sailors for future transfer to new destroyers build after 2025.

2) to maintain the numbers of surface combat ships during this time of geopolitical tensions with AUKUS, India and Japan.

I also hope that after retiring from active service, they can turn #112 and #113 into training ships, replacing the older ones consist of the obsolete type 053 FFG (#517 and #519).

I think they will be retired from combat service as planned, because experienced crew is kinda bottleneck for PLAN compared to rapid induction of new warships in the coming decade.

You are right, both ships will be decommissioned from combat duty but not shelved. They might be transferred to Dalian Naval Academy (like #517) for training, used in OPFOR ("Blue Team") or as testbed for new weapons (like #519).

 

[Shotgunner51]

Photo of 15 years old DDG pennant #116 (Type 051C, total 2 hulls in this class) as fleet escort in CV-16 taskforce, and a very new Type 901 Fast Combat Support Ship

 

[Shotgunner51]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1489225758908157958

 

[FuturePAF]

By now 051B (see below 167) and two of the Sov's (see below 136, 137) have completed MLU, the two 052B should be done soon (no pic yet, see CG by an enthusiast). One common feature between these refitted destroyers is that they all got YJ-12 supersonic ASh missiles which is also installed in Pakistani 054A/P.

View attachment 797930View attachment 797934View attachment 797932

No integrated mast? Has the PLAN decided against that or figured it wasn’t worth it on this kind of ship?

 

[aziqbal]

Personally, I think PLAN should consider extend the service of #112 and #113 a few years beyond 30 years (2024-2025), mainly because of:-

1) to keep a larger pool of experienced sailors for future transfer to new destroyers build after 2025.

2) to maintain the numbers of surface combat ships during this time of geopolitical tensions with AUKUS, India and Japan.

I also hope that after retiring from active service, they can turn #112 and #113 into training ships, replacing the older ones consist of the obsolete type 053 FFG (#517 and #519).

112 and 113 are also the only few early DDG to have two hangers

and until Type 055 came online the only DDG to have dual hangers

I wonder why PLAN did not continue the dual hangers on the Type 052C/D/L

it would mean 2 x ASW helicopters and hugely expand the ASW capability of the entire DDG fleet over dozens of units

 

[Shotgunner51]

No integrated mast? Has the PLAN decided against that or figured it wasn’t worth it on this kind of ship?

I don't think there will be major structural change like that, the MLU (or modernization) will be focused on replacing outdated sub-systems, the already refitted 051B (pennant #167) and the Sovs are examples. For the MLU of 052B, I think the video in post #33 is quite close to reality i.e. an ASW platform, and testbed for next gen underwater warfare techs (054B).

This is the other 052B (#168) spotted last year, also undergoing MLU:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1400457793400832007

 

[FuturePAF]

I don't think there will be major structural change like that, the MLU (or modernization) will be focused on replacing outdated sub-systems, the already refitted 051B (pennant #167) and the Sovs are examples. For the MLU of 052B, I think the video in post #33 is quite close to reality i.e. an ASW platform, and testbed for next gen underwater warfare techs (054B).

This is the other 052B (#168) spotted last year, also undergoing MLU:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1400457793400832007

I mentioned it because it was on the first page of this thread.

 

[Shotgunner51]

I mentioned it because it was on the first page of this thread.

Well that's per some other observer's estimate, I carry a different opinion (based on actual refitted 051B) but that possibility can't be ruled out for 052B (could be a testbed for 054B techs) which is still undergoing MLU. Let's see how it turns out.

 

[Shotgunner51]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1501490879814844417