Tuo Chiang-class corvette

The Tuo Chiang-class corvette (Chinese: 沱江; lit.: 'Tuo River') is a Taiwanese-designed class of fast (up to 45 knots, 83 km/h, 52 mph) and stealthy multi-mission corvettes built for the Republic of China (Taiwan) Navy. It is designed to counter the numerous and increasingly sophisticated People's Liberation Army Navy ships by utilizing hit-and-run tactics, and thus featured clean upper structure design with very few extrusions to reduce radar signature, pre-cooled engine exhaust to reduce infrared signature, and a reduced visual signature to reduce chance of detection.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

Class overview
Name: Tuo Chiang class
Builders: Lung Teh Shipbuilding, Su-Ao, Yilan County, Taiwan
Operators: Republic of China (Taiwan) Navy
Preceded by: Ching Chiang-class patrol ship
Cost: NT$2.2 billion (US$72.39 million)[1]
Built: 2012–present
In commission: 2014–present
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: MTU 20V 4000 M93L diesel engine – rated at 4,300 kW (5,766 bhp), 4 x MJP CSU 850 waterjet
Speed: 45 knots (83 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
ROCN PGG-618 model at RF6

Development

The program was announced by the Republic of China (Taiwan) Ministry of National Defense (MND) on 12 April 2010. It was developed by the Naval Shipbuilding Center in Kaohsiung,[12] The Tuo Chiang class was developed to address common weakness of traditional small warships such as patrol craft and corvettes namely poor sea-keeping, a significant handicap for warships expected to sortie for extended periods of time in rough seas around Taiwan.

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.[13] On 18 April 2011 a top military officer and a lawmaker announced that the construction of a 500-ton prototype would begin in 2012. In the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in 2013, the Navy unveiled a model of the Hsun Hai project corvette. The prototype of the Hsun Hai program was named and christened on Friday, 14 March 2014 as ROCS Tuo Chiang (PGG-618) in honor of the gunboat that was a combatant in the 9-2 Sea Battle during Second Taiwan Strait Crisis.[14]

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, as well as the Sea Oryx CIWS system.[15] It will field a ballistic missile defense version of the Sky Bow III missile defense system to shoot down incoming enemy ballistic missiles.[16]

In 2019 work commenced on the first of twelve 600-ton coastal patrol vessels for the Coast Guard Administration, the Anping-class offshore patrol vessel, based on the Tuo Chiang-class corvette at the Jong Shyn Shipbuilding Company's Kaohsiung shipyard.[17]

Design

The ship is a catamaran design which is 60.4 metres (198 ft) long, 14 metres (46 ft) wide and carries a crew of 41 personnel. It is capable of a maximum speed of 40 knots and a range of 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km; 2,300 mi). It is armed with eight subsonic Hsiung Feng II and eight supersonic Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles launchers, a Phalanx Close-In Weapons System, and a 76 mm (3 in) main gun.[12] The ship can operate up to sea state 7 in waves up to 20–30 ft (6.1–9.1 m) high.[4] Taiwan Security Analysis Center (TAISAC) stated that the ship features stealth technologies to help evade radar detection, a combat system that includes a distributed-architecture combat direction system known as “Taiwan Aegis" developed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology[18] and an indigenous search/track and fire-control radar and electro-optical director.[19][20][21][22]

The ship increases its survivability in naval warfare by utilizing advanced stealth technology and low radar cross section (RCS), which makes it less detectable by radar and allows it to be obscured by back ground radar noise when operating closer to the coastline.[23]

Ships of class
 Pennant Number   Name   Builder   Launched   Commissioned   Status   Note 
PGG-618 Tuo Chiang (沱江艦) Lung Teh Shipyard, Su-ao 14 March 2014 [24] 23 December 2014 [25] Active Class prototype
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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. Minnick, Wendell (31 December 2014). "Taiwan Navy Accepts New Catamaran". Defensenews.com. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  5. http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/12/12/taiwanese-navy-showcases-new-killer-stealth-corvette.html
  6. http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/naval/ships/2014/12/23/taiwan-launches-its-largest-ever-missile-ship/20826049/
  7. http://phys.org/news/2011-07-taiwan-stealth-technology-breakthrough.html
  8. http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/taiwan-navy-launches-new-stealth-boat
  9. http://www.businessinsider.com/taiwan-navy-stealth-missile-warship-corvette-2014-12
  10. https://news.usni.org/2014/12/24/taiwan-navy-takes-delivery-first-stealth-carrier-killer-corvette
  11. http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1668158/taiwan-navy-testing-stealth-frigates
  12. Cole, J. Michael (12 April 2012). "'Carrier killer' program goes ahead". Taipei Times. Taipei. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  13. "Taiwan's first stealth missile corvette christened Tuo River". Want China Times. 14 March 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ROC Navy to Build Three Air Defense Catamaran Corvettes based on Tuo River-class – Navyrecognition.com, 15 March 2016
  16. Taiwan's NCSIST Successfully Tested a Ship-based Variant of Tien Kung III BMD Interceptor – Navyrecognition.com, 2 January 2017
  17. hen Chi-feng and, William Yen. "Construction works for 600-tonne CGA ship starts in Kaohsiung". focustaiwan.tw. Focus Taiwan. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  18. Minnick, Wendell. "Taiwan Moves on $14.7B Indigenous Shipbuilding, Upgrade Projects". www.defensenews.com. Defense News. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  19. "Taiwan shows images of carrier killer". UPI.com. 13 April 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  20. "Taiwan developing 'carrier killer' for navy: report". Spacewar.com. 12 April 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  21. Minnick, Wendell (18 April 2010). "Taiwan Plans Stealthy 900-Ton Warships". Defensenews.com. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  22. "Missile Launchers, Vessels, UAVs Unveiled at TADTE". Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition. 17 August 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  23. Taiwan Navy Emphasizing Domestic Shipbuilding Program in Ongoing Maritime Restructure – News.USNI.org, 25 March 2016
  24. "Taiwan launches first carrier killer stealth missile corvette". IHS Jane's 360. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014.
  25. Pan, Jason (24 December 2014). "'Tuo Jiang' commissioned into service at Suao event". Taipei Times. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
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