Re: Missiles for 2208 catamaran FAC
true, i agree, but your have the advantages apart from cheaper to produce and keep stealth, there is also the advantages of using better platforms, higher situation awareness and better coordinations. if Bandstand radar is going to be installed.....there is no way for the chinese to produce 30+ sets in that given time slot, and the cost will be too high.
That's another issue too. A stealthy ship like that probably isn't cheap to build in the first place.
assassinsmace said:
Maybe we haven't seen something yet. It took a long time just to see possibly what missiles the 22s carry. Maybe there's a "command" Type 22 that has more sophisticated sensors. You can have the missile carrying 22s sneak in closer. The command ship follows in, lights up the targets and missiles away.
Well so far the 22s have been very visible. Surface ships are the last thing in the PLA that they can hide. So far we have not seen a "command" Houbei, but we cannot eliminate the idea of a command corvette in the future. The problem is that the ship's design, below very low and sleek, does not have much of an altitude for a radar to peer down the horizon. In naval terms, unless you are using over the horizon radar technology, the height of the surface radar affects the ability to peer down the horizon and extend the range of the radar. You may probably be limited to detecting rather tall things.
That's why I like to see a dedicated corvette class with a mast high enough for a surface search radar.
Gollevainen said:
Well my guess of why Type022 is what it is...is that these boats are mented to be some sort of stopgap meassure in the transistion phase from old PLAN to new blue water force. A last of the line in FACs in Chinese service, something that will keep chinese shores safe before PLAN can be that strong that no one even gets missile range of mainland...thus As a large nation with resources, PRC has the luxury to build combatants that will only serve single purpose under their own unique conditions.
Well my idea is a bit more cynical. Every service has contentions of doctrines. People with certain ideas compete with other people with different ideas. In some navies for examples, there are always the gulls (the pro carrier faction) and the dolphins (the sub faction). That seems to be true of the PLAN.
My theory is that this is probably the brainchild of a younger officer, looking for a naval equivalent of an "assassin's mace". I find the entire concept and its execution to be very high tech for a mere coastal defence. And even if you plan a reserve coastal defense force, you would probably think that a more conventional FAC with organic sensors can better accomplish that purpose. Somehow some person may have managed to market the idea well to the PLAN and higher ups to get this much resources to execute.
tphuang said:
I'm just thinking now, does it have to use aerial targeting? For example, would something like satellite targeting be possible with Type 022.
It probably can do with other ships that have OTH search capability. That's a select but growing group of ships---all four Sovremannies, the 052B/C, the 051D, and the 054A. Probably also with long range OTH backscatter radar located in the coast. Satellite search maybe, but low orbit satellites don't have the persistence and the constancy since everything depends when the satellites passes over the concerned area.
As a note, the missiles like any true ASM, are lock after launch. Which means they only need search data, and only needs to be guided to a region where the target would be in targeting range of the missile's own seeker.
