Latest 054A and Carrier model pictures

This week has been pretty much been dominated by news about the air force. On top of the pictures and news I have already shown above, there have also been a lot of pictures coming out showing the latest toys of the air force. However, I think it's important to show the progress of the navy since that is still going on.

The first set below shows the the status of the island on both Varyag and the Aircraft Carrier model. It looks like they are about to put an APAR like the one on 052C on Varyag (or maybe they will put multiple face to give complete coverage). It's actually kind of strange for them to MFR on a carrier, because I really don't expect it to carry a long range SAM like HHQ-9 on there. I was more expecting HQ-16 with associated sensors like a Sea Eagle volume search radar with several Orekh FCRs to illuminate targets. It's possible that the data from APAR would be used to provide additional volume search and targeting data for escorts as well as for itself. If that was true, it could confirm CEC already existing with PLAN.




The pictures below are both from HuangPu shipyard. The first two shows the 4th 054A to be built in HuangPu shipyard. The last two shows the 3rd 054A from HP shipyard and it has just finished its sea trials. It has received the number 571, which means it will join the South Sea Fleet. The 3rd 054A from HD shipyard will then receive the number 569 and also join the South Sea Fleet (if we go by the standard PLAN procedure in commissioning new ships). That means 4 054A will be in South Sea Fleet, 2 054A + 2 054 will bein East Sea Fleet and no 054A will be in North Sea Fleet. It does make sense for the 4th pair of 054A to go to NSF, but we will have to wait and see. It is the neglected fleet in PLAN.