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Excerpts from The Diplomat

Costs of a Type 054A by Segment


This author estimates that the Type 054A currently costs a total of approximately $348 million per vessel to build and fit out (Exhibit 1). This estimate derives from breaking the ship down by its main systems categories (hull and equipment, propulsion/power transmission, weapons, and electronics) and calculating their respective costs, as well as the cost of the labor needed to assemble the ship into a finished product. The estimate relies heavily on valuation by analogy in many cases because Chinese sources simply do not disclose cost information on the vast majority of the inputs used in warships being built in China. As such, the figure as stands is conservative and may overestimate the construction and equipment costs.

Exhibit 1: Type 054A Cost Breakdown

Million USD, Percentage of total estimated ship cost (numbers rounded)



Source: Alibaba, U.S. Navy, Local and Foreign Media Sources, Author’s Analysis

The next section elaborates sequentially on the Type 054A’s cost structure, with the areas that contribute the most to final ship cost addressed first.

Electronics: $102 million, 29 percent. Chinese military-grade electronics makers disclose little or no information on the unit costs of systems they produce for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Moreover, the PLA does not publish detailed budgets such as those commonplace in US DoD. As such, this analysis uses a valuation by analogy approach to estimate the likely cost of the ship’s main electronics systems. The ship’s ZKJ-4B/6 combat data system is said to be based on Thompson CSF’s Tavitac. The Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapons Systems, 1997-1998 estimated that the Tavitac accounted for less than 5 percent of the final cost of the French Lafayette frigate, which based on the US$466 million original unit cost of the six Lafayette-class frigates (“Kang Ding”) purchased by Taiwan in 1992, suggests Tavitac costs approximately US$20 million. Given the systems’ stated similarity, it is reasonable to value the ZKJ-4B/6 at US$20 million per unit.

The Type 382 3D search radar likely costs approximately $15 million per unit based on the price of the AMD radar system Saab sold to Australia for its Canberra-class LHD and the fact that Chinese radar makers likely have not yet attained the experience and efficiency level of Saab’s production process. The Type 054A’s sonar suite likely costs around $20 million, based on the unit cost of the Royal Navy’s Sonar 2087 and the procurement requirements the U.S. Navy used in 2005 when specifying the characteristics of a new towed sonar array. Finally, the author estimates that the Type 054A’s machinery control system costs $15 million, based on the fact that Northrup Grumman has contracted to supply the much larger LHA-7 amphibious assault ship’s machinery control system at a cost of $50.6 million. The author acknowledges that shipboard electronics costs may in fact be lower, although no data presently known to him supports a lower cost.

Weapons: $84 million, 24 percent. The most expensive part of the Type 054A’s weapons suite is likely the vertical launching system cells. An 8-cell module from the US Mk 41 VLS system – the most widely used in the world – costs around $15 million. The Type 054A has 32 total VLS cells and the author discounts the 8-cell module cost to $10 million, making the system cost an estimated $40 million. The second most expensive component of the Type 054A’s armament are its two Type 730 close in weapon systems (“CIWS”), which likely cost around $11 million for both. The U.S. Navy’s Phalanx Block 1B CIWS costs $5.6 million per unit, and the author believes this is a reasonable proxy for the Type 730 CIWS cost because although the Chinese gun is a larger caliber and the system is physically larger, the assembly and materials costs are likely substantially lower.

Labor: $75 million, 22 percent. While data is somewhat scarce, building and commissioning a frigate-sized warship of between 3,000 and 4,000 tons displacement appears to require between 2.5 million man hours (U.S. FFG-7) and 10.8 million man hours (India Godavari-class) of labor. The author estimates that at present, Chinese military shipyards, which can afford a higher degree of labor intensity than Western yards due to a large labor force, but which are also almost certainly substantially more efficient than Indian yards, require around 3.2 million man hours to build and commission a Type 054A frigate. Chinese yards’ average labor cost is based on the 2013 labor expenditures of Jiangsu Rongsheng, a top private shipbuilder, which are then increased by 25 percent to reflect the premium paid for special skill sets required for shipbuilding work done to naval specifications.

Hull and equipment: $45 million, 13 percent. This cost estimate is based on the fact that around one-third of the light ship weight of surface combatants such as the Type 054A typically consists of metals – primarily steel, along with lesser quantities of high-grade alloys and wiring and pipes. The author then multiplied the 1,200 metric tons of steel likely required for a ship the size of the Type 054A by an average cost of $2,000/metric tons for high quality steel such as that used in warships. The remainder of the cost comes from composite materials and radar absorbent materials, whose cost data was obtained from similar items sold on Alibaba.com and from the cost of applying radar absorbent coatings to frigate-sized U.S. warships, as disclosed by the Chicago Tribune (admittedly a bit dated as it is 1993-vintage). Cost data for paint, piping, pumps, valves, and wiring also come from similar Chinese-made items advertised for sale on Alibaba.com as well as the London Metals Exchange spot price for copper, the underlying component of wiring, and likely at least part of the pipe alloys.

Propulsion: $32 million, 9 percent. The biggest share of the Type 054A’s propulsion costs come from its four Pielstick/Shaanxi PA6 diesel engines. At least one trading company offers Pielstick engines for sale at between $1and $10 million apiece. This estimate uses the mid-range price of $5 million per engine to reflect the size of the engine and the premium quality needed for a military application. The balance of the estimated cost reflects the gearbox, drive shafts, steering gear, and props.

Miscellaneous costs: $10 million, 3 percent. This category is a “catchall” that helps the overall estimate account for bits and pieces that might have been overlooked in the process of estimating each ship segment’s cost.
 
With one move, Indonesia has moved twenty years ahead of everyone else in Asia in light frigate/heavy corvette technology (2500 ton Damen 10514 design). The first two started sea-trials a month ago....

 
BANGLADESH NAVY SUBMARINE HAND OVER CEREMONY
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Well thats a relief, at least theres decent surface treatment to get rid of the major rust earlier.
 
The hull mounted passive sonar. Is it a Chinese build or an earlier soviet model borrowed from say foxtrot?

@Penguin

I do not want to step on @Penguin Bhai's toes, but found the following write-up on Chinese sonar program development interesting....

http://www.afcea.org/content/?q=chinese-naval-sonar-evolves-foreign-influences

"The initial phase of the Chinese sonar program began with Soviet searchlight sonars provided from 1954 to 1975. The searchlight sonars were high frequency (HF) units that transmitted and received echoes in one direction. The first sonar-equipped submarines acquired from the Soviet Union were four World War II vintage S-class submarines with the MARS-12 passive sonar delivered in 1954. Two years later, components for the first of 21 Soviet Whiskey-class diesel submarines included the TAMIR 5LS active sonar. The Chinese assembled these kits in their own shipyards with Soviet assistance. China established a manufacturing plant for these sonars and produced more than 100, and they likely were exact copies of the Soviet examples.

The passive arrays could have been slightly improved MARS 24 sonars, indicating 24 instead of 12 transducer elements. This would provide much improved bearing accuracy and reduced beam side lobes. Chinese shipyards went into a large production run of the submarines, designating them as Type 031. Chinese efforts to obtain more modern Soviet submarines and sonars were thwarted by the cooling of relations in 1960 when the Soviet Union began to pull back its military technicians and engineers. China did manage to obtain plans and drawings of the Romeo-class diesel submarine. This submarine had TAMIR 5L active sonar and a FENIKS passive array. China’s shipyards produced 64 Romeo copies, designated Type 033. Unlike the Type 031, the Type 033 bows did have a unique fez-shaped topside transducer, which indicated that the newer sonars had been obtained. Two 033 submarines reportedly were upgraded with French DUUX-5 sonars in 1983."

Chinese sonars used on the Ming class are probably improved copies of soviet cold-war era sonars like Hercules (Active/Passive) and Feniks (passive).

Also - look at these sources, wiki says that 035G uses upgraded French DUUX-5 sonars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_035_submarine#Variants

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a306680.pdf

chine-ming-poste-de-manoeuv.jpg


chine-type-033-b_small.jpg
 
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Thanks bilal9, AFCEA is interesting.
http://www.afcea.org/content/?q=chinese-naval-sonar-evolves-foreign-influences

Hydrophones are an early form of passive sonar. Soviet use of passive sonar dates back to 1929, when first representative samples were obtained from German firms of Elektroakustik and Atlas-Werke. This was used to outfit submarines then under construction. Systems for small submarines were called MERCURY, for larger boats it was called MARS (so, you get these names with a number to indicate a particular sonar system, notable transducer elements. MARS-12 has 24 transducers). First vessels thus receiving passive sonar were the Dekabrist-class submarines Dekabrist, and Krasnogvardeyets and battleship Marat, originally the Russian battleship Petropavlovsk (1911) and third of the four Gangut-class dreadnoughts built before World War I for the Imperial Russian Navy, the first Russian class of dreadnoughts. From 1930 work started on additional passive sonar system SATURN.

History of Russian Underwater Acoustics
Oleg A. Godin,David R. Palmer
https://books.google.nl/books?id=oN...#v=onepage&q=" passive sonar" soviet&f=false

The Soviet-era S-class submarines had Mars-12
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_S-class_submarine

In addition to Whiskey class, China also had the Type 033, licenced Soviet Romeo sub, which used the MARS-12, and this is the precursor to Type 35 Whiskey. The ES5A upgrade for the Type 033 saw improvements mainly in the replacement of equipment of Soviet origin with domestic Chinese system, which included using the domestic Chinese Type 801 sonar in place or the original Soviet MARS-24 sonar. The only difference between Type 801 sonar and its predecessor MARS-24 sonar is that there are 24 transducer elements for Type 801 as opposed to 12 in the original MARS 24, so the Chinese sonar had better accuracy.

In the 1970s, China's Wuhan Ship Development and Design Institute (701 Institute) built an improved submarine based on the Type 033 hull, named Type 035 Ming. These also had the Type 801 as standard passive sonar.

Type 035G: Program begun in 1985, and the first unit with pennant number 356 was lunched in 1989, entering service in December 1990, and state certification received in 1993. This is the first Type 035 series to have anti-submarine (ASW) capability. The primary weaponry for Type 035G is Yu-3 torpedo, and French sonar DUUX-5 and its Chinese built version were used on later units, 12 of which were completed between 1990 to 1999. The last unit with pennant number 308 was lengthened by 2 meters to add a section for AIP tests.
Type 035ET: French sonar system and its equivalent Chinese version on ES5E export version of Ming was expensive, so a cheaper alternative was developed, using Italian sonar systems, the JP-64 active sonar and Velox passive sonar of Toti-class submarine. However, this failed to attract any buyers and the unit went into Chinese service instead.
ES5F: Export version with integrated sonar system that integrates previously separated active, passive ranging, flank (and towed upon customer's request) sonar into one.

http://military.wikia.com/wiki/Romeo-class_submarine
 
I do not want to step on @Penguin Bhai's toes, but found the following write-up on Chinese sonar program development interesting....

http://www.afcea.org/content/?q=chinese-naval-sonar-evolves-foreign-influences

"The initial phase of the Chinese sonar program began with Soviet searchlight sonars provided from 1954 to 1975. The searchlight sonars were high frequency (HF) units that transmitted and received echoes in one direction. The first sonar-equipped submarines acquired from the Soviet Union were four World War II vintage S-class submarines with the MARS-12 passive sonar delivered in 1954. Two years later, components for the first of 21 Soviet Whiskey-class diesel submarines included the TAMIR 5LS active sonar. The Chinese assembled these kits in their own shipyards with Soviet assistance. China established a manufacturing plant for these sonars and produced more than 100, and they likely were exact copies of the Soviet examples.

The passive arrays could have been slightly improved MARS 24 sonars, indicating 24 instead of 12 transducer elements. This would provide much improved bearing accuracy and reduced beam side lobes. Chinese shipyards went into a large production run of the submarines, designating them as Type 031. Chinese efforts to obtain more modern Soviet submarines and sonars were thwarted by the cooling of relations in 1960 when the Soviet Union began to pull back its military technicians and engineers. China did manage to obtain plans and drawings of the Romeo-class diesel submarine. This submarine had TAMIR 5L active sonar and a FENIKS passive array. China’s shipyards produced 64 Romeo copies, designated Type 033. Unlike the Type 031, the Type 033 bows did have a unique fez-shaped topside transducer, which indicated that the newer sonars had been obtained. Two 033 submarines reportedly were upgraded with French DUUX-5 sonars in 1983."

Chinese sonars used on the Ming class are probably improved copies of soviet cold-war era sonars like Hercules (Active/Passive) and Feniks (passive).

Also - look at these sources, wiki says that 035G uses upgraded French DUUX-5 sonars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_035_submarine#Variants

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a306680.pdf

chine-ming-poste-de-manoeuv.jpg


chine-type-033-b_small.jpg
Upgraded French DUUX, I believe. During the Sino- Soviet split China enjoyed some tot from Europe. Especially in sonar & Data link technology. France & Italy helped the Chinese with some crucial technologies in that time period.

Chinese military upgraded and enhanced on those technologies later.
It's suspected that despite western arms embargo on China, some European technology still found it's way into China all through out the '90 's.
 
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Upgraded French DUUX, I believe. During the Sino- Soviet split China enjoyed some tot from Europe. Especially in sonar & Data link technology. France & Italy helped the Chinese with some crucial technologies in that time period.

Chinese military upgraded and enhanced on those technologies later.
It's suspected that despite western arms embargo on China, some European technology still found it's waycin China all through out the '90 's.

Yup, agreed on all points.

They copied the Exocet missile too I believe (C-802).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-802

Now in use in the following Bangladesh Navy platforms,
 
Yup, agreed on all points.

They copied the Exocet missile too I believe (C-802).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-802

Now in use in the following Bangladesh Navy platforms,
The datalink and sonar onboard Type 53 H1/G/H3G is European originated too. Datalink is Chinese copy of Type 11 link from Italy. The Sonar was initially a Soviet sonar from Riga Class produced in China. Later during the '80 's, it was upgraded, transistor tubes were replaced with IC. Later versions got designs from France. France supplied with some sonar designs for the surface warships.
 
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