Saturday, February 05, 2011

At dawn we slept

Zhanjiang, HQ of the PLAN South Sea Fleet at dawn. It is the Chinese New Year and everyone is taking the day off -- seemingly without a care of the world.



JIANGHU V 558 has been seen after refit, with new 100 mm turrets and cradles for YJ-83 SSM, even though the canisters themselves are not actually mounted. -- Thanks franco-russe for pointing it out












One of the new PRC Fisheries Law Enforcement Command (FLEC)cutters

1 comment:

duskylim said...

There are 2 Jianghu class frigates in the pictures - nos. 557 and 558.

Jianghu no. 557 and the vessel immediately behind her are un-modernized and still have the older Styx-style missiles and turrets, while no 558 has the newer model 100 mm DP and 37 mm CIWS guns along with new search and fire-control radars but with no missiles actually visible.

In pictures number 3 and 5 we see that Jianghu no. 558 (the number is not actually visible in pic 3) is moored beside several other vessels, which are Luda class destroyers one of which is Luda 165.

The after HQ-7 SAMs are visible but not the YJ-82 missile launchers nor any sign of the old 3-D radar.

Instead there appears to be a Yagi-array and a tripod-mounted air-search radar along with the ubiquitous fire-control radars.

The old 130 mm guns are gone, replaced by the newer-model 100 mm guns and numerous 37 mm CIWS mounts.

These vessels are approaching the end of their useful lives and although obsolete can still be used in operations against the weaker, less-modern ASEAN navies.

The question is how long the PLAN will continue to operate them as they (especially the steam-powered Luda's) are less efficient and wasteful of fuel.