***That’s the empty shell being towed from the Black Sea when they bought it. It’s been enhanced since then (including phased array 3-D radar)***
If ChiCom trends are any indication, my wild arsed guess has to be this: Watch it grow, “exponentially”, and “numerically”, just as they did these itty bitty teeny weeny http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/08/china-builds-warships/ speedboats//.
My speculation: They just ordered some 89 or so Officer/skippers along with a number of thousand of sailors aboard the Shi-Lang and that can mean only one thing: they expect boats like this to be in the high double digits and likely fast paced...
I foresee a fleet of between 48 to maybe 60 of these expendable, cheap to produce, cutting edge technology boats in with the next ten years,