Type 022
 Drawing of the type ship
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The type 022 (referred to as the Houbei class according to the NATO code ) is a class of catamaran - missile speedboats of the Navy of the People's Republic of China .
construction
According to observers, the type 022 boats are based on a concept by the Australian company AMD Marine Consulting . By the year 2000, the company had some civilian catamarans built by a Chinese partner shipyard in Guangzhou .
After only four boats of the type 022 had been built, experts initially believed in a test series, but soon afterwards other shipyards began to convert their production to corresponding boats, so that currently up to 83 ships of the class could be completed.
The design of the boats seems to have been developed taking stealth technology into account , so that the radar reflective surface is probably smaller than in the previous classes. Furthermore, the boats are highly automated, so that compared to units with similar tasks, the number of crew members required could be reduced to just twelve men.
The construction is to be based on prefabricated parts made of aluminum compounds that have been welded using modern methods.
The unit cost is said to be only about 15 million US dollars.
Mission profile
The Type 022 does not seem to be particularly suitable for tasks of patrol boats or for reconnaissance missions. The lack of a landing facility for helicopters as well as the difficulties in launching a boat for a possible boarding team severely limit the scope of the class. According to experts, their high speed, heavy missile armament and apparently advanced communication systems are only suitable for raid-like attacks on sea or land targets that were previously discovered by other forces.
Denial of access strategy
The ship class is now seen by experts as part of China's "access refusal strategy", with which the country wants to protect itself against foreign intervention, mainly in the South China Sea . The strong and rapid response forces of the navy and air force, which are distributed over many bases, can react quickly to an opposing deployment and even strong naval formations should be able to be overwhelmed by coordinated attacks from several directions.
Armament
The main armament of the ships consists of anti-ship missiles that can be launched from two launch boxes at the stern . However, the number and type of missiles are unknown. According to experts, the generous design of the boxes allows the use of up to eight YJ-83s or a large number of unguided artillery missiles, such as the WS-1 , against land targets.
The defensive armament consists of a close-range defense system with a fully automatic Chinese version of the Russian 30 mm Gatling cannon KBP AO-18 (similar to the older AK-630 ) with a range of up to 4 kilometers and probably a system of up to eight decoys .
Web links
- Type 022 on GlobalSecurity.org. (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ AMD Marine Consulting
- ↑ David Ax: China Builds Fleet of Small Warships While US Drifts. dated August 4, 2011, viewed July 22, 2012
- ↑ Friction stir welding of aluminum ships ( Memento November 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b c China Daily Mail: China's Houbei class fast-speed missile boats dated June 2, 2012, viewed July 22, 2012
- ↑ a b Catamarans Glide Through Chinese Waters , James C. Bussert: Signal Magazine. 2007, viewed 09/2008
- ↑ IDEX 2007 Showcases China's Productive Weapons Sector ( Memento from December 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ The number of detected launchers varies between two double launchers and two quadruple launchers