Posted on 01/30/2014 11:29:27 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
While most Western military experts focused their attention on the production of the Shenyang J-15, China's first carrier-based fighter and the launch of larger surface combat vessels including two Type 054A frigates and one Type 052D destroyer, the official website of the People's Liberation Army Navy said that the Type 056 Jiangdao-class corvette is in fact the ship class that the nation produced the most of in 2013.
The Beijing-based Sina Military Network indicated that ten Type 056 Jiangdao-class corvettes had been launched this year to replace the older Type 037 submarine chasers. Mounted with two triple torpedo tubes, the Type 056 is designed to conduct anti-submarine operations within China's special economic zones, which extend 200 nautical miles off the Chinese coast. Combined with SJG-206 low frequency towed array sonar, the Type 056 is capable of directing anti-submarine helicopters against enemy submarines.
Currently, the Type 056 incorporates a helipad at the stern for a light helicopter. The Sina Military Network stated that the Russian-built Kamov Ka-28 anti-submarine helicopter will be chosen to serve with the corvette in the near future. The Ka-28 helicopter is able to detect submarines at a depth of 500 meters and at running at speeds up to 75 kilometers per hour. However, only the Harbin Z-9E helicopter can be operated from the helipad of the Type 056 before the organic helicopter support facility is mounted aboard the vessel.
The Z-9E helicopter is unable to carry as much anti-submarine weapons and equipment as the Ka-28 according to the website. The Ka-28 is armed with one 533 millimeter homing torpedo, one torpedo rocket, ten PLAB 250-120 bombs and two OMAB-25-12D bombs. Unlike the Ka-28 which can detect enemy submarine with its own VGS-3 dipping sonar, the Z-9E cannot carry sonar and weapons simultaneously. For this reason, two helicopters, one for detecting and the other for striking must be dispatched for anti-submarine missions.
The Sina Military Network suggested that the V750 unmanned helicopter designed by Weifang Tianxiang Aerospace Industry Company may be a better choice to operate alongside the Z-9E aboard the Type 056 because the helipad cannot carry two manned helicopters. With a range of 500 km and a speed of 161 km/h, the V750 can increase the combat capability of the Type 56 by two in combination with the Z-9E. Since the V750 cannot carry 324 mm torpedos due to its small size, and its primary mission is to locate enemy submarines.
Designed as a part of the PLA Navy's anti-submarine warfare system, the Sina Military Network said that the Type 056 corvettes are not likely to be used in independent operations. Instead, they will be used with support from other vessels such as Type 054A frigates or other surface combat vessels. After the launch of the first Type 056 vessel in 2012, the Bangladesh Navy has already purchased two ships from China. The Royal Thai Navy and the Nigerian Navy are also potential buyers of the Type 056s.
We don’t even have corvettes or destroyer escorts anymore, do we?
How can you ask such a stupid question? We don’t NEED them. In 2008, the world began to love us and at this time, place us second only to Allah, thanks to the miraculous leadership of Barack Obama.
Shame on you!!!
Nice target.....
I bet you would get great missile radar returns off of those barn-wall sides. Given how valuable subs are to current Naval doctrine, little boats like this are going to have very short lifespans if things go hot.
The 56 Corvette is OK. But I prefer a 57 T-Bird.
59 Vette uber alles. 1961 T-Bird was awesome.
However, I got 8 girls in my 57 Chevy 210. Put the vette and the T-Bird together and they still couldn’t stock up like I did. (Oh, and there were another 7 girls in my friend’s 55 Blue & White Chevy).
Ain’t braggin’ but “we got us a convoy of beauties”.
It looks like somebody “tagged” the flight deck..
No. The last Destroyer Escorts were the Claud Jones Class built in 59ish and decommissioned in 74, I believe. The Navy retired the DE Hull classification in 75 and changed it to FF or Frigate (Fast). I don’t think we ever commissioned anything in a Corvette class. Maybe, not sure.
The U.S. built up it's frigate force during the Cold War because it was faced with the possibility of having to convoy ships to Europe in the face of a Soviet invasion. Once that threat went away, the justification for the frigate force went with it.
A single Burke class destroyer, with its two helicopters, its electronics system, its stand-off ASW weapons is more than a match than the Type 056 in terms of anti-submarine warfare. A single Virginia submarine is an even better one. China can't match either.
Anyone wonder WHY the price of scrap iron has been going up? China buys most of it and you’re looking at some of our older, melted down ships, tractors, car frames and building materials, etc., now disguised at China’s newest war machines.
At first glance I thought it was one of those “Hello Kitty” things on the deck...............
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