Type 054B frigate
The Type 054B is a class of guided missile frigate of the People's Republic of China. It is a development of the Type 054A frigate, and is around longer and wider than its predecessor.
History and development
In the 2010s, Chinese military observers speculated a successor design to Type 054A frigate, designated Type 054B or Type 057. In the early 2020s, more confident intelligence suggested the successor to Type 054A would be the Type 054B. The first two hulls were laid down in 2022 at the Hudong shipyard and the Huangpu shipyard in Shanghai and launched in 2023.The first frigate, Luohe was commissioned on 22 January 2025 at Qingdao.
The second ship in its class, Qinzhou, was secretly commissioned, with its existence confirmed on April 12, 2025.
Design
The Type 054B is longer and wider than the Type 054A. A dual-face rotating phased array radar is mounted on the top of the forward integrated mast. The stern has a panel for variable depth sonar and ports for deploying towed sonars and decoys.Armament includes a 100mm Type 210 [100 mm naval gun|H/PJ-87] main gun, a 32-cell vertical launching system, a Type 1130 11-barrel 30mm close in weapon system, and a HQ-10 air defense missile launcher.
The helicopter pad is large enough to accommodate the Harbin Z-20.