Thread by @AlexLuck9

A few thoughts on the issue of China's new corvette/light frigate sized combatant and what its point is, may be, and pertinently, has been stated to be, going off this article in TWZ.

twz.com/sea/chinas-mys…

We do have one image from the yard giving this design an official purpose. Text declares the celebration of the launch of a project for a "comprehensive test platform". The design is partially visible in the graphic (minor differences but its clearly intended to be the same ship)

That issue should make the nature of this effort less mysterious. Now, in the context of PLAN testing of weapons, sensors etc its worth noting the service does operate more bespoke test ships, specifically the Type 909/A/910-series (designation somewhat blurry AFAIK).

These hulls notably tested radar systems for Type 054A and the next gen 054B frigate designs. They also have space allocated to test various weapons, notably missiles, both VLS and slant launch-setups etc.

That sort of testing however may be insufficient for whatever PLAN intends to do based off this new combatant. It features an obvious effort in signature reduction (stealth). Interestingly it also appears to feature water jet propulsion (based on its wake, a sheer speculation).

A combination of novel technologies may mean PLAN preferred a dedicated prototype to try things out. The Type 032 submarine illustrates how PLAN goes to some length building bespoke test platforms with no intention for massed production. The experimental USV is another case.

An alternate explanation: It is at least possible that this design was originally intended to be mass produced as a new corvette but the effort got downgraded to testing status for some undisclosed reason. It remains to be seen what the outcome of testing this new design is. /end