Retirement of Type-21s is out of question, as since we already operate very few ships , so if we can get another 10 years from ship a refurbishment would be great consideration.
We did refurbish the OHP with minimum 63 Million cost and got things upgraded from Turkey and it worked out well for Pakistan Navy
Presently we are just not at a stage where we can discuss retirement of any Navy Ship
This should be the minmum modernization for the Type 021 together with
Anti Ship missiles
The radar / Scan systems would enable modern weapons to be integrated on ship
If we have Chinese Anti Ship / SAM in mind , then Chinese Radar would make sense
View attachment 481491
When we will upgrade the Radar/Computers , the Chinese systems will automatically be compatible with Chinese Radar and components
And China is making all sort of modern Radars
It would be cost effective upgrade
This is a independent piece all technology for it is separate , and using cabling you just move the data to internal computers in Control Room
The exterior service of Ship can be done during off season , just send it to shipyard for basic improvements and repainting and cleanup
All the sub systems of the Type-21 can be changed (Radars , Sonar ) from China and weapons module can also be upgraded for Chinese Weapons
If we refurbished the OHP ships for 63 Million , the cost to refurbish Type021 would be same or less
VLS for Type021 is out of scope however basic SAM as used on F22P would be acceptable
If after the modernization drive the Type-021 can be upgraded to F22p Level it would be a great MLU for these ships
View attachment 481492
- 4 Type 054 (Frigates)
- 4 F22P (Frigates)
- 4 MLU Type021 (Frigates)
- 4 MILGEM (Corvettes)
Should be
enough for Navy Needs for next 15-20 years
On other hand if we do have 800 Million USD lying around we should order 4 more F22P so we can retire the Type021 or make these ship as training ships