Name Tuo Chiang class Built 2012- | Preceded by Gin Chiang patrol boat | |
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Builders LUNG TEH Shipbuilding, Yilan County, Taiwan Operators Republic of China (Taiwan) Navy Cost NT$2.2 billion (US$72.39 million) | ||
The Tuo Chiang-class corvette (Chinese: 沱江; literally: "Tuo River") is a class of stealth multi-mission corvettes operated by the Republic of China (Taiwan) Navy. The ship incorporates various stealth features to have a lower cross-section and avoid radar detection. Developed under the Hsun Hai (Chinese: 迅海; literally: "Swift Sea") program, these corvettes are intended to replace missions currently undertaken by larger ships.
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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, 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.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 (PG-618) in honor of the gunboat that was a combatant in the 9-2 Sea Battle during Second Taiwan Strait Crisis.
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. It will field a ballistic missile defense version of the Sky Bow III missile defense system to shoot down incoming enemy ballistic missiles.
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. The ship can operate up to sea state 7 in waves up to 20–30 ft (6.1–9.1 m) high. 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 developed by the military-run Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and an indigenous search/track and fire-control radar and electro-optical director.
The ship has been criticized for its lack of air defense armament; it has survivability due to its stealth technology and low radar cross section (RCS), which makes it difficult to observe via radar and making the ship even more obscure when operating closer to the coastline.
Ships of class
Eleven more ships of the class are currently planned for construction with one ship currently in service.