A Review On What China's Next Frigate Will Look Like

Credit: Photograph provided to CRS by Navy Office of Legislative Affairs, December 2010 (via Wikimedia Commons)

The Diplomat: What Will the Chinese Navy’s Next Frigate Look Like?

The U.S. Navy has chosen its next frigate; what will China’s look like?

The United States Navy (USN) has recently awarded the contract for its future frigate project – FFG(X) – to the Italian company Fincantieri, adopting their FREMM frigate design, outfitted with various U.S. developed sensors and weapons systems. The FFG(X) will be a much-needed warship for the USN, balancing cost with capable and proven subsystems, and will help to augment the USN’s current surface combatant roster when the first ship enters service, possibly around 2027.

With the USN’s future frigate path more or less set for the next decade, it is a good time to review where the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) sits with its own frigate class of warship. This article will briefly consider the current state of the PLAN’s primary frigate fleet and summarize current rumors and information for its upcoming frigate trajectory.

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WNU Editor: In the past few years multiple navies around the world have revealed their new frigate designs. China is starting to reveal theirs.