One year after the People’s Liberation Army Navy commissioned its first 054B-class frigate, Luohe (hull 545), the ship has moved from parade-ship status into routine, operational activity. Commissioned at a Qingdao naval base on 22 January 2025, the vessel is described by Chinese sources as a multi-mission platform tasked with area air defence, anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface operations. Its stated advantages include a wider early-warning detection envelope, stronger information-processing capacity and more comprehensive integrated combat functions than previous generations.
Over the past year Luohe has repeatedly conducted live-fire drills and normalised at-sea training cycles, signalling an emphasis on rapid doctrinal integration rather than a single ceremonial milestone. These exercises are intended to stress weapons systems, sensors and command-and-control routines in realistic conditions and to accelerate what Chinese commentators call the generation of “new-type combat power.” Regular training also helps crews move from technical proficiency to operational readiness as part of a wider squadron or task force.
The 054B is presented as an incremental but meaningful evolution of China’s medium-size frigate design: better sensors, tighter data fusion and broader mission software that let it act as a node in distributed fleet networks. That combination matters because modern naval combat increasingly depends on detection ranges, information handling and the ability to integrate into multi-ship air-defence and anti-submarine screens. Even if the 054B does not match the size or firepower of destroyers, its capabilities can multiply the effectiveness of larger formations and improve the survivability of high-value units such as carriers and amphibious ships.
Strategically, Luohe’s first year of service is a small but visible piece in Beijing’s longer naval modernisation campaign. The ship’s operationalisation demonstrates not only technological upgrades but also the industrial and training pipeline needed to turn new hulls into usable force multipliers. For regional navies and planners, the key question is not a single frigate but the scale and tempo of follow-on production and how quickly these vessels are woven into complex task groups that operate across the western Pacific and beyond. Observers should watch deployment patterns, exercise profiles and serial production as better indicators of the 054B’s true impact on the balance of naval capabilities.