Tuo Chiang-class corvette

Class overview
Name: Tuo Chiang class
Builders: LUNG TEH Shipbuilding, Yilan County, Taiwan
Operators:  Republic of China Navy
Preceded by: Gin Chiang patrol boat
Cost: NT$2.2 billion (US$72.39 million)[1]
Built: 2012-
In commission: 2014-
Planned: 12
Completed: 1
Active: 1
General characteristics
Type: Coastal Corvette
Displacement: 567 tonnes full load [2][3]
Length: 60.4 m (198 ft)(Length on cushion)
Beam: 14 m (46 ft)
Draught: 2.3 m (7.5 ft)
Propulsion: 4 x MJP CSU 850 waterjet
Speed: 38 knots (70 km/h) (fully armed)
Complement: 41 (including officers)
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • Navigational Radar
  • CS/SPG-6N(S) Surface Search Radar
  • CS/SPG-6N(T) Fire Control Radar
  • Variable Depth Sonar
Electronic warfare
& decoys:		 12 counter-IR/RF chaff dispensers (6 bow and stern)[4]
Armament:
Aviation facilities: Flight deck,[4] primarily for VERTREP

The Tuo Chiang-class corvette (Chinese: 沱江; literally: "Tuo River") is a high-tech Taiwanese designed class of fast and stealth technology based multi-mission corvette built for the Republic of China (Taiwan) Navy. Developed under the Hsun Hai (Chinese: 迅海; literally: "Swift Sea") program, the Tuo Chiang-class corvette is intended to take over some of the lower-intensity missions currently undertaken by larger and more-expensive frigates and destroyers as well as, in wartime, to function as an asymmetrical counter to larger warships of any hostile navy. This class is thus designed to possess superior seakeeping than ROCN's previous and current patrol craft while also being capable of hit-and-run tactics and armed with a total of sixteen anti-ship missiles (AShM), including eight subsonic Hsiung Feng II and eight hypersonic Hsiung Feng III nuclear weapons capable missiles.[5][6] The prototype ROCS Tuo Chiang (PG-618) was launched on 14 March 2014[7] and commissioned on 23 December 2014. Eleven more ships of the class are planned.

Development

The program was announced by the Ministry of National Defense (MND) on 12 April 2010.[8] Local media has dubbed the vessel as a "Carrier Killer" due to it being armed with hypersonic Hsiung Feng III nuclear weapons capable anti-ship missiles.

As the Tuo Chiang class is designed to address common weakness of traditional small warships such as patrol craft and corvettes (namely poor seakeeping, a significant handicap for warships expected to sortie for extended periods of time in rough seas around Taiwan), it is expected to be armed along the line of such vessels as well, with domestically-designed subsonic Hsiung Feng II and hypersonic Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles (AShM) as its primary armament.

Developed by the Naval Shipbuilding Center in Kaohsiung, concept images of the vessel were first made public at the Republic of China (Taiwan) Armed Forces Museum in Taipei. The concept shows a wave-piercing catamaran armed with eight subsonic Hsiung Feng II and eight hypersonic Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles launchers, a Phalanx Close-In Weapons System, and a 76 mm (3 in) main gun.[8]

Sources indicate that the vessel will be 60.4 metres (198 ft) long and capable of cruising up to 38 knots (70 km/h; 44 mph). Taiwan Security Analysis Center (TAISAC) stated that the ship will be featuring stealth technologies to help evade radar detection, a combat system that include a distributed-architecture combat direction system developed by the military-run Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology "together with an indigenous search/track and fire-control radar and electro-optical director", according to TAISAC director Fu S. Mei.[9][10][11]

In 2011, the Taiwanese Legislative Yuan approved a NT$24.98 billion (US$853.4 million) budget to fund the construction of up to 12 ships.[12]

On 18 April 2011 a top military officer and a lawmaker announced that the construction of a 500-ton prototype will begin in 2012. The construction has now been fully completed and the stealth ship is currently deployed in Taiwan.[13] In the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in 2013, the Navy unveiled a model of the Hsun Hai project corvette.[14]

The prototype of the Hsun Hai program was named and christened on Friday, 14 March 2014 as ROCS Tuo Chiang (PG-618) in honor of the gunboat that was a combatant in the 9-2 Sea Battle during Second Taiwan Strait Crisis.[15]

The christened vessel will have a maximum speed of 38 knots and a range of 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km; 2,300 mi). It is 60.4 meters in length and 14 metres (46 ft) wide, carries a crew of 41 personnel, is armed with eight Hsiung Feng II sub-sonic anti-ship missiles, eight Hsiung Feng III hypersonic nuclear weapons capable anti-ship missiles, an Otobreda 76 mm main gun (Mk 75 with locally designed and -refitted low-observable gunhouse exterior) and a 20 mm CIWS.[16] While the ship has been criticized for its lack of air defense armament, it has survivability due to its advanced stealth technology and low radar cross section (RCS), which is made it almost invisible to radar and even more obscure when operating closer to the coastline.[17] The ship can operate up to sea state 7 in waves up to 20–30 ft (6.1–9.1 m) high.[4]

On 23 December 2014 during the ship's handover ceremony to the ROCN, Yen Ming, the then Taiwan's Minister of National Defense, declared that this corvette is without a doubt the fastest, the strongest and most technologically advanced naval ship in Asia and one the most technologically advanced in the world.[18]

In early 2016, the ROC Navy began plans for procuring three air defense frigates. It has been speculated that these frigates would possibly be catamarans based on the Tuo River-class hull. Expected weapon systems include the Mark 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) equipped with a naval variant of the Sky Bow III and the Sky Sword II, possibly quad-packed in the VLS cells, as well as the Sea Oryx self-defense missile.[19]

Ships of class

 Number   Pennant Number   Name   Builder   Launched   Commissioned   Status 
1 618 Tuo Chiang (沱江) Lung Teh shipyard, Su-ao 14 March 2014 [7] 23 December 2014[20] Active

See also

References

  1. ↑ "'Carrier-killer' starts trials". Taipei Times. 28 October 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  2. ↑ LaGrone, Sam (24 December 2014). "Taiwan Navy Takes Delivery of First Stealth 'Carrier Killer' Corvette". United States Naval Institute. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  3. ↑ Wong, Kelvin (19 August 2015). "Taiwan highlights new features, further development for Tuo Jiang stealth corvette". IHS Jane's 360. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Minnick, Wendell (31 December 2014). "Taiwan Navy Accepts New Catamaran". Defensenews.com. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  5. ↑ http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/taiwanese-navy-accidentally-fires-nuclear-8730387
  6. ↑ https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1718956/taiwanese-navy-accidentally-fires-hypersonic-missile-at-fishing-vessel-as-tensions-with-enemies-china-ratcheted-up/
  7. 1 2 "Taiwan launches first carrier killer stealth missile corvette". IHS Jane's 360. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014.
  8. 1 2 Cole, J. Michael (12 April 2012). "'Carrier killer' program goes ahead". Taipei Times. Taipei. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  9. ↑ "Taiwan shows images of carrier killer". UPI.com. 13 April 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  10. ↑ "Taiwan developing 'carrier killer' for navy: report". Spacewar.com. 12 April 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  11. ↑ Minnick, Wendell (18 April 2010). "Taiwan Plans Stealthy 900-Ton Warships". Defensenews.com. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  12. ↑ "Taiwan's first stealth missile corvette christened Tuo River". Want China Times. 14 March 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  13. ↑
  14. ↑ "Missile Launchers, Vessels, UAVs Unveiled at TADTE". Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition. 17 August 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  15. ↑
  16. ↑ 沱江艦下水典禮 海軍期待納作戰序列. United Evening News (in Chinese). 14 March 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  17. ↑ Taiwan Navy Emphasizing Domestic Shipbuilding Program in Ongoing Maritime Restructure - News.USNI.org, 25 March 2016
  18. ↑
  19. ↑ ROC Navy to Build Three Air Defense Catamaran Corvettes based on Tuo River-class - Navyrecognition.com, 15 March 2016
  20. ↑ Pan, Jason (24 December 2014). "'Tuo Jiang' commissioned into service at Suao event". Taipei Times. Retrieved 22 August 2015.

External links

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