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Type 055 DDG News & Discussions

My hope for next major upgrades for 055:

- New dual band AESA (I want to see L + X band rather than S + C band currently)
- All electric propulsion
- Laser weapons
- Increase VLS to 128
- Chinese version of ESSM (Triple "5" - Mach 5, 50G, 50KM)
- Anti-ballistic missile capabilities
- Naval Z-20 helicopters
- Further optimized stealth shaping (main gun, sensor antennas etc)

If ESSM size SAM were developed, it's must be 4-in-1 cell, the total missile amount can increase significantly, so no need to increase VLS to 128.
 
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Image credit @捣蛋就捣蛋
 
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If ESSM size SAM were developed, it's must be 4-in-1 cell, the total missile amount can increase significantly, so no need to increase VLS to 128.
More cells to carry land attack cruise missiles.
 
The YouTube channel “Sub Brief” has a video on the Type 055, in which he claims the ship is so large because it is an inefficient design, radar technology draws too much electricity and therefore needs to be larger then it could be. If his assertion is correct, as China improves AESA technology, the ship will probably remain the same size but will have a more powerful radar and have more spare space for more VLS.
 
The YouTube channel “Sub Brief” has a video on the Type 055, in which he claims the ship is so large because it is an inefficient design, radar technology draws too much electricity and therefore needs to be larger then it could be. If his assertion is correct, as China improves AESA technology, the ship will probably remain the same size but will have a more powerful radar and have more spare space for more VLS.

No. The ship is as large because it uses 4 QC280 gas turbines and they are powerful enough.
 
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No. The ship is as large because it uses 4 QC280 gas turbines and they are powerful enough.
The question is why does the ship need 4 large gas turbines; it had 112 VLS tubes, when the Arleigh Burke Flight III carries the same number of VLS tubes at nearly half the tonnage. The Youtuber “SubBrief” says he is told the Type 055’s Radar is a kin to the first generation SPY-1 radar, while the newer Arleigh Burke’s have the SPY-1D and the future radar for the US navy is almost ready; the SPY-6 radar.

This is probably why China classifies the Type 055 As a destroyer and not a cruiser. This is probably also why China classifies the Type 052DL as a heavy Frigate akin to the future US constellation class (Italian FREMM design)

Having said all that, China is advancing rather quickly, so if they make significant progress in radar technology and reach parity with the US in this regard, it’s not inconceivable that they could replace the radar to match the SPY-6 in the next refit in 10-15 years. In the meantime, China will have the ships in place, and the crews trained; an incremental approach to reaching ship numbers while using a stop-gap radar solution while technology matures.
 
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From all the non-sense, wishful thinking or even childish comments I guess he was told by his inner voice.
It probably is just speculation on old assumptions. China already makes GaN based AESA radars, it would be logical that the best ships in the PLAN would have the most cutting edge AESA technology China can field.
 
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