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China resumes construction of Type 054A anti-submarine frigates

March 22, 2021

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For a little over a year, the Chinese authorities have decided to drastically reduce the visibility given to their military naval production, and more generally to all Defense industrial production, so as to reduce the image rendered on the international scene. of a country producing a colossal effort to rearm and modernize its forces. A new milestone was reached last week, when Chinese authorities warned that posts of information (or photos) about the country's defense equipment on social media would now be tightly controlled, calling on bloggers and other defense observers Chinese not to divulge sensitive information outside of the country. In fact, monitoring developments in Chinese naval production is much more difficult today than it was two years ago. And that is why the resumption of the production of Type 054A frigates now appears as a surprise, even if the first ship of the new series turns out to be ready for its upcoming launch.

Indeed, a photo posted on Twitter by Chinese observers show that a new frigate of this model is now close to launch, which should take place by May, near 3 years after the last unit of the first batch was launched. According to unofficial information collected, and therefore to be taken conditional, by Chinese observers, the Chinese Navy has ordered a new series of 20 frigates of this model, the construction of which should be spread over 5 to 7 years, bringing their number to 50 units, that is to say the number of frigates of the OH Perry class which the US Navy had at the end of the Eighties. Concomitantly, the Chinese shipyards will also begin the construction of the first units of Type 80B, the production of the two models must be tiled for a smooth transition for both industrial infrastructure and the Chinese Navy. In the end, by 054, Beijing should therefore have a strong fleet of 2035 to 75 modern frigates to support its some 80 modern destroyers and cruisers, thus exceeding in number the American fleet in the Pacific, reinforced by those of its close allies ( Australia, Japan, South Korea ..).