If the mid-life upgrades are still on the drawing boards, hope they consider putting in an 8-cell 9 meter deep Universal VLS aft of the funnel to be able to hold long range Anti-Ship Missiles like the (officially) 290 km range Hypersonic YJ-21 (a design based on the proposed export oriented CM-401 missile). In coordination with adding 8 YJ-18 in the standard position amid-ships. A Pakistani follow-on version of both with much longer ranges could give Pakistan the qualitative edge, and the YJ-21 derivative could even be an option for the Pakistani Army’s land based missiles forces to deal with the S-400s. Considering their small size, The YJ-21 or a derivative could also form the basis for a nascent SLBM force for use on possibly the last 3 of the Yuan subs ordered from China. Officially as conventional ASBM, but could have use as a second strike capability. Even a modest 8-10 missiles per sub could be a game changer for conventional and Special missions. But that’s a topic of a separate thread.
A coordinated attack (hypersonic arrive just when the sea-skimmers are expected to arrive) with 16 anti-ship missiles maybe enough to overwhelm an Indian Warship, and make the F-22P a considerable threat for the IN and keep them guessing. The Sea-King Helicopters in the current inventory could also be modified to carry a long range air search radar like the one on the AW-101 AEW “Crowsnest” to give independent targeting data and help the surface warship guide its anti-ship missiles and the AAW frigate better guide its air defense missiles in the event of a battle.
Operating with an AAW/ASW Frigate like the proposed Type 054B) the F-22P should be able add significant offensive surface punch to the task force and not overburden the design of the Type 054B to be even larger and more expensive.
The F-22P is probably large enough that change shouldn’t alter the center of gravity, but I maybe wrong (To Paraphrase Mckoy, ... I’m not a naval engineer). IMHO, it’s a considerable upgrade that should be looked into to better counter balance Indian Naval developments for a relatively modest cost considering the hull is already active. Otherwise the F-22P will remain little more then a large off-shore patrol ship considering the capabilities of adversary. If the F-22P is getting a decent number of 30-50 Km range air defense missiles via VLS forward of the bridge, 24 cell HQ-10 launcher on top of the Hanger, and a new Type 1130 CIWS for self defense, it could be able to get into a position to launch and deal with some enemy missiles coming at it in the terminal phase.
Btw, if these missiles look too big for a ship the size of the F-22P, we need only look at a similar sized VLS on the under a 1000 ton Buyan-M Corvettes. The F-22P is large enough to be able to carry these missiles and have the full suite of capabilities to protect itself from air, Surface and sub-surface threat and operate as a blue-water Frigate. With these capabilities, the PN wouldn’t need as many planes for the Anti-Shipping Role.
