When the 054B was just built, the military fans hoped that the 054B could have a 48-unit 850 pit, and when the AJK-16 pit on the foredeck was exposed, the military fans hoped that the 054B could have a 32-unit pit and a 16-unit pit like the 22350. However, the test photos of the 054B lead ship show that the 054B is likely not to even have the YJ-12, and the anti-ship missile is most likely an heirloom like the YJ-83.
So, is the AJK-16, which has only 32 units of the Type 054B big guard with a full load displacement of nearly 6,000 tons, really enough? The Constellation-class frigate has a standard displacement of 6,100 tons and a full load displacement of 7,291 tons. However, there are only 32 constellations that are similar in size to 052D, MK-41. The U.S. Navy is not in a hurry, so what are we anxious about?
U.S. Navy: Although the 7,000-ton constellation has only 32 units, it is enough
Since the outbreak of the Red Sea issue, the U.S. Navy has shot down at least 68 drones and 19 anti-ship cruise missiles/ballistic missiles, and normally multiple interceptor missiles are fired to intercept a single target, which means that the U.S. may have fired triple-digit anti-aircraft missiles to intercept anti-ship weapons fired by the Houthis. In addition, the U.S. military destroyed several Houthi boats and dozens of Houthi land targets.
And on October 19, 2023, Carney alone shot down 19 drones. Even if the Carney had a 100 percent hit rate, the Carney would need to fire 19 missiles to intercept the drones, which means that even cheap suicide drones can quickly deplete a warship's anti-aircraft missiles.
The Burke-class destroyers, with 90/96 vertical units, were plagued by a shortage of ammunition reserves when they undertook escort missions in the Red Sea. What about the Constellation-class frigates, which have only 32 MK-41 vertical hair units and a full load displacement of up to 7,000 tons? The US Navy, which has always advocated the theory of winning by firepower, looks at the Houthis, China and Russia, which have anti-ship missiles full of pits, and then looks at the constellation with only 32 vertical hair units.
However, the US Navy does not have any idea of adding vertical hair units to Constellation-class frigates at this stage. The Constellation frigate is only 32 units with a depth of 6.76 meters) tactical MK-41, capable of carrying Standard-2, Sea Sparrow and Asroc anti-submarine missiles. The second ship began to carry the 7.7-meter-deep strike MK-41, which will give the Constellation class the ability to carry Standard-6 long-range anti-aircraft missiles, Tomahawk cruise missiles and LARSM cruise missiles.
The US media theater believes that the Constellation-class frigate with 32 units of vertical hair can carry 10 Standard-6, 16 Standard-2, 24 Sea Sparrows, or 8 Tomahawks, 6 Standard-6, 14 Standard-2, 16 Sea Sparrows, or 6 Tomahawks, 4 Standard-6, 12 Standard-2, 6 Asroc or 16 Sea Sparrows. Thus undertaking escort, anti-submarine, air defense and other tasks.
More critically, when FFG (X) was just launched in 2017, the US Navy only planned to equip Constellation-class frigates with 16 units of MK-41, and upgrading to 32 units has already doubled the number of vertical hair. In other words, if it weren't for the rapid changes in the world situation in recent years, the Constellation-class frigate might have 16 units of vertical hair, and 32 units of vertical hair would have been good.
What's more, missiles are never cheap! Even the US Navy's own use is not cheap. A Standard-2 Block IIIC costs $2 million, an ESSM Modified Sea Sparrow costs $1.5 million, a Standard-6 Block IA costs $4.2 million, and a Standard-6 Block IB costs $8.5 million.
That is to say, when a Constellation-class frigate is equipped with missiles in the configuration of 10 Standard-6, 16 Standard-2, and 24 ESSM improved Sea Sparrows, the total price of missiles is 420 * 10 + 200 * 16 + 150 * 24, that is, 1.31 billion US dollars, and the cost of a Constellation-class frigate is 1.2 billion US dollars.
给一艘星座装满导弹的钱，能卖两艘052D
This is true for Constellation-class frigates with only 32 vertical hair units, but what about Burke-class destroyers with 96 vertical hair units? Even the above simple carrying scheme*3 means 3.9 billion US dollars in missiles (the Standard-3 is more expensive, and the Tomahawk is not cheap at all). This shows how expensive modern missiles are.
The carrying scheme is a little more luxurious, and the missiles carried are more expensive than those of warships...... Even a simple 24-round standard-2+24-round ESSM means $840 million. A frigate is not a destroyer, and its air defense and anti-saturation strike capabilities are really inferior to destroyers. Stuff all the eggs in the same basket, once the egg basket is dried, the egg loss is really a bit too much, and you can't afford to hurt it.
The price of a single 30FFM ship is about $450 million, and the 16 vertical hair units cost $320 million even if they are fully equipped with Standard 2
Therefore, doesn't the US Navy think that the 32 vertical hair units of the Constellation-class frigates are enough? Rather than dislike the lack of vertical hair units, it is better to find a way to complete two more frigates so that they can carry more missiles. Besides, do you really think that European countries do not want their warships to have a bit of martial virtue? The price of missiles sold by the United States for export is too dark for martial virtue to rise.
Of course, the tragic case of the Red Sea is in the past, and the US Navy is not unaware that the vertical hair of the Constellation-class frigate is somewhat less, but the way for the US Navy to solve the problem at this stage is not to equip the warship with more vertical hair. (However, there is a large section of unused space behind the main gun of the Constellation-class frigate, so the Constellation-class may have reservations)
Instead, it is planned to provide universal oblique-engine, containerized anti-aircraft missiles, additional missile launchers, sea-based reloading capabilities, and vertical or oblique transports/unmanned ships/arsenal ships to enhance the U.S. Navy's sustained combat capabilities.
It's just that for most surface ships, the external ammunition depot belongs to the far water, and there is no place to install general-purpose oblique launchers, containerized anti-aircraft missiles, and more missile launchers, so the US Navy's idea to solve the problem of insufficient missiles at this stage is the sea reloading system. The U.S. Navy hopes to be able to reload warships with missiles in Level 5 sea conditions, thereby enhancing the warship's sustained combat capability.
The problem is that missiles are quite expensive, so ammunition supply ships that can replenish surface ships with missiles can become a high-value target, so the U.S. Navy also allocates a portion of ships to escort ammunition supply ships. It can only be said that in the era when missiles were dressed vertically, it was better to think about building more missiles than to think about how to load warships with more missiles......
However, for the US Navy, which cannot keep up with the production capacity of warships, it can only build ammunition supply ships head-on. What's more, for the U.S. Navy, which is deploying troops around the world, when a warship's ammunition depot bottoms out, it is really difficult to replenish ammunition. At present, the US Navy's focus is on the Asia-Pacific region, and once a Sino-US conflict breaks out, all military bases within the first island chain, and a large number of military bases in the second island chain and even the third island chain will soon be raised by ballistic missiles.
That is to say, the US ships operating in the waters east of Taiwan Island need to go to Pearl Harbor or even to the east coast of the US mainland to replenish ammunition after discovering that their ammunition depots have bottomed out. When the warship wades through mountains and rivers to a safe port to replenish ammunition and then returns to the front-line battlefield, I am afraid that not all battles have been fought. Therefore, no matter how difficult and risky it is to replenish ammunition at sea, the US Navy has to bite the bullet.
But for China, the production capacity of warships is also a problem? The shipyard said that as long as you have an order, I can stuff 6 to 9 052Ds in a dock, and assembly line operation is not a problem. And I still have 4 dockyards of this size, and more than 10 shipyards like me. Why are there so many hair plugs? Wouldn't it be enough to order two more ships to take turns?
Anyway, the price of two 64-cell frigates with missiles is almost as high as the price of three 32-cell frigates with missiles, and for surface ships of the frigate class, quantity is really more important than quality (provided that the quality is not too bad)
The performance of the 22350 frigate is really strong, but if Russia has a choice, Russia will build this thing?
054A, this kind of first build 30 test waters, and then build 10 improved mass-produced frigates, for the navy of a big country, 054A, the air defense and anti-ship efficiency is okay, the armament is sufficient, and more importantly, the cheap frigate can be called a perfect frigate.
If the conditions of the U.S. Navy allow, the United States will build a basket of the American version of 054A every minute, and don't you see the propaganda poster of the Constellation-class frigate, reflecting that the 32 units of the vertical hair are all 054A?
The picture in the upper left corner is quite familiar
As for 054B, it is as if 054B really uses how many new technologies that have never been used before, and 054B's other subsystems besides radar are really not necessarily much stronger than 054A. Therefore, 054B is definitely more expensive than 054A, but the price of 054B is probably around 450 million US dollars, which is still quite cheap, and according to the GDP ratio, 054B is cheaper than 054A of the year. A surface ship with a high amount of requirements, even according to the standard requirements of destroyers, is really a bit excessive.
As for the four bullets in one pit? If the AJK-16 is really 650 hot vertical hair, is it a question whether the AJK-16 can be stuffed with one pit and four bullets? How many years has the 26-centimeter DK-10 been waiting? The problem is that the navy said that the 32 units are enough to shoot vertically, and there is no idea at all about four bullets in one pit......