"Two sources I've been reading, they seem to think the AEW is S-band."This would only be possible if the alleged new "HQ-16F" is ARH rather than SARH.
"The four panels beneath, one think it's IFF, the other think it's L-band radar. They agree it's not fire control radar."
It's definitely IFF since there is nothing else on the ship that looks like IFF, and PLAN previously has been using flat-panel IFF arrays just like this rather than the circular arrays on Western ships.
"One speculate the new HQ-16 has acquired active radar homing."
They may be saying that just because the HQ-16F allegedly has a range of 160km or whatever. This is of course totally unnecessary because an X-band radar has plenty of capability to guide missiles via SARH out to 200+ km on many ship types.
"Interestingly, one said the rotatory AEW radar have two smaller side AESA. If so, I speculate it may stay stationary to scan a fixed direction, at least temporarily."
This is clearly not the case based on the new photos because the non-array sides look like they are faceted, probably for stealth/lower RCS reasons.
