According to media reports in Taiwan, China, the first ship of Taiwan’s "Tajiang" class missile patrol ship "Tajiang" was delivered ahead of schedule on July 27th.
Taiwan’s "Central News Agency" reported that Taiwan’s defense department said that in order to cope with the frequent cruises of PLA military aircraft, it was originally planned to complete three "Tajiang" ships in 2025. After coordinating with Longde Shipyard, it was changed to complete the operational evaluation this year and complete six ships by 2023. At present, one can be delivered soon, so the progress is ahead of schedule.
Taiwanese media said that the "Tajiang" class patrol ship is the "carrier killer" of the Taiwan military, and it is an effective asymmetric combat force for the Taiwan military to "defend and stick to it".
So, what is the combat power of the "Tajiang" class patrol ship? Is the title of "aircraft carrier killer" worthy of the name?
The first ship of "Tajiang" class missile patrol ship "Tajiang".
From "Tuojiang" to "Tajiang"
The "Tajiang" class is an upgraded version of the "Tuojiang" class ship, and the first ship of the "Tuojiang" class "Tuojiang" was delivered in December 2014. The name "Tuojiang" is to commemorate the gunboat "Tuojiang" which was destroyed and scrapped by the People’s Liberation Army in the naval battle of Liaoluowan on September 2, 1958 (Tuojiang is a tributary of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in Sichuan).
"Tuojiang" is 60.4 meters long and has a full displacement of about 600 tons. It is a wave-piercing catamaran with stealth design, and its maximum speed can reach 38 knots. Although the "Tuojiang" has a displacement of only about 600 tons, it has piled up a large number of weapons, including a MK-75 76 mm naval gun, a MK-15 "dense array" near defense system, two MK-32 triple-mounted 324 mm torpedo launchers, four 12.7 mm machine guns, and eight anti-ship missiles of Xiongfeng 2 and Xiongfeng 3. It can be said that
However, the "Tuojiang", which has high hopes, has exposed some problems in sea trial and use, such as insufficient buoyancy, excessive vibration during navigation and greatly reduced speed. It has been rumored many times that the towed array sonar of "Tuojiang" is affected by the high vibration and noise generated by the hull during navigation. Although the Taiwan navy denied it many times, the subsequent mass-produced "Tajiang" class missile patrol ship cancelled the towed array sonar and anti-submarine torpedo launcher.
During the sea trial and use, the "Tuojiang" exposed some problems, such as insufficient buoyancy, excessive vibration during navigation, and greatly reduced speed.
As a mass production type of the "Tuojiang" class missile patrol ship, the "Tajiang" started construction at Longde Shipyard on May 24, 2019 and was launched on December 25, 2020. The word "Tower" in the name of the ship "Tajiang" is taken from Wataxi in Taitung County and matched with the word "Jiang" in the naming pattern of Taiwan patrol ships, which is another manifestation of Democratic Progressive Party authorities’ "going to China".
Compared with the "Tuojiang", the length of the "Tajiang" class is increased to 65 meters, the width is increased to 14.8 meters, the full-load displacement is increased to 685 tons, the draft is 2.1 meters, and the endurance is reduced from about 2,000 nautical miles of the "Tuojiang" to about 1,800 nautical miles. Structurally, the "Tajiang" class changed the bottom of the two pieces of the hull under the waterline of the "Tuojiang" from V-shape to U-shape, and adjusted the shape of the bridge, cab, mast, etc., and moved the position of the smoke outlet from the vicinity of the outboard waterline on both sides to two meters above the inboard waterline to enhance concealment.
In terms of weapons and equipment, there are many changes in the Tajiang class compared with the Tuojiang class: the anti-submarine torpedo launcher is cancelled, the number of Xiongfeng 2 and Xiongfeng 3 anti-ship missiles is reduced to 8 and 4 respectively, and 16 Haijian 2 medium-range ship-to-air missiles and their supporting CS/MPQ-90 X-band single-sided phased array radar are added.
In addition, Taiwan Province Coast Guard also plans to build 12 "Anping" class patrol ships based on "Tuojiang". The size of "Anping" class patrol ship is larger than that of "Tuojiang", and the full-load displacement is increased to about 700 tons. Because it is not equipped with anti-ship missiles, its speed can reach more than 44 knots. However, it should be noted that "Anping" class patrol ship has reserved missile launching cabin and interface, which can be equipped with "Xiongfeng" 2 and "Xiongfeng" 3 anti-ship missiles, "dense array" near defense system and other weapons and related systems in wartime, and the peacetime and wartime conversion can be completed within 24 hours. Two "Anping" class patrol ships have been delivered at present.
Although the displacement is only over 600 tons, the "Tajiang" class has piled up a large number of weapons, including 76 mm naval guns, anti-ship missiles, ship-to-air missiles, near-defense guns and machine guns.
Embarrassed "carrier killer"
Objectively speaking, the "Tajiang" class has indeed solved some problems existing in the "Tuojiang", but there are still many problems due to its backward design concept and insufficient capacity.
It seems unnecessary for Taiwan navy to adopt the design of wave-piercing catamaran. Although the wave-piercing catamaran has the advantages of good seaworthiness, reducing wave-making resistance and facilitating the layout of superstructure, it also has the disadvantages of heavy structural weight, which is not conducive to large-scale and high lateral stability.
First of all, the two hulls and superstructure of the wave-piercing catamaran are more complicated than the traditional monohull ship with the same tonnage, which requires more materials and has a much larger structural weight. In order to reduce weight, catamarans are mostly made of aluminum alloy, and the "Tuojiang" and "Tajiang" missile patrol ships are no exception, which will inevitably lead to rising procurement and use costs. For example, it will cost more than NT$ 5 billion (about RMB 1.156 billion) to purchase a "Tajiang" missile patrol ship.
Secondly, the connection structure between the two pieces of the wave-piercing catamaran is complicated. When the distance between the two pieces is large, the connection structure must be made of steel with good structural strength, which will inevitably increase the structural weight, reduce the effective load, reduce the economy and limit its large-scale development.
The "Tajiang" class can carry up to 16 anti-ship missiles with firepower comparable to destroyers.
Finally, the wave-piercing catamaran has a larger width and higher lateral stability, but when the sea conditions are higher, it produces a larger lateral stability moment and a higher rocking frequency, which leads to a decline in seaworthiness. At the same time, the pitching of the wave-piercing catamaran has not been alleviated. According to Taiwan media reports, when the "Tuojiang" was seaworthy, the crew vomited more seriously because of its strong pitching.
At present, what the Taiwan Navy urgently needs is to be able to replace the old Jinjiang class missile patrol ship. After the "Jinjiang" class is completely retired, the complicated patrol tasks can only be undertaken by Taiwan naval frigates, which will consume its limited service life faster. "Jinjiang" class is equipped with sonar, anti-submarine torpedo and deep-water bomb, which has basic anti-submarine capability, while "Tajiang" class has no anti-submarine capability at all.
It can be seen that the real purpose of Taiwan Province’s construction of the "Tajiang" class missile patrol ship is not to replace the "Jinjiang" class as stipulated in the plan, but to develop an anti-ship missile launching platform, strengthen the overall anti-ship capability of its navy, and enhance its so-called "rejecting reunification by force" capability. Some Taiwan Province media even refer to the "Tajiang" class as an "aircraft carrier killer", but this is just wishful thinking.
On the one hand, although the "Tajiang" class can carry up to 16 anti-ship missiles, and its firepower is comparable to that of destroyers, it also occupies the hull space and can only install simple electronic equipment, which leads to its extreme dependence on friendly and neighboring combat platforms and combat information networks, and its independent combat capability is extremely weak. In the face of systematic air and sea strikes, friendly and neighboring combat platforms and combat information networks are easily broken one by one, and its lack of independent combat capability is more like a "large missile boat". Moreover, the equipped "Xiongfeng" 3 supersonic anti-ship missile claims to have a range of 400 kilometers, but it can only be achieved when the flying height exceeds 15,000 meters, and it is easy to be intercepted. If low-altitude trajectory is adopted, the range is only about 150 kilometers.
On the other hand, the self-defense ability of "Tajiang" class is insufficient. Taiwan authorities say that these two-stage missile patrol ships have achieved stealth, but Taiwan Province has not accumulated much stealth technology, and the actual effect is in doubt. In terms of air defense, the ship is equipped with a "dense array" near-defense "Haijian" 2 ship-to-air missile. The maximum range of the missile is about 30 kilometers, and the inclined fixed launch box is adopted. This design not only limits the launch angle of the missile, but also has a small bomb load. Although the "Tajiang" class has a certain self-defense capability, if the launch platform of the other anti-ship missile launches a saturation attack 30 kilometers away, the "Tajiang" class will be overwhelmed and easily overwhelmed by the other anti-ship missile. Newer weapons such as the "Tajiang" class must be the focus of attention in wartime. Ballistic missiles and various types of anti-ship missiles are the nightmare of the "Tajiang" class, and there is almost no chance to attack the opponent’s aircraft carrier. The title of "aircraft carrier killer" is not worthy of the name.
Haijian 2 ship-to-air missile is improved from Tianjian 2 air-to-air missile.
The facade of the "national ship made in China" plan?
The "Tajiang" class is a part of the so-called "national ship-building" plan in Taiwan, China, which can be said to be ambitious. The Taiwan military and the coast guard will jointly build 238 ships of various types.
This huge shipbuilding plan, regardless of whether the funds are sufficient, is beyond the capacity of Taiwan Province’s shrinking shipbuilding industry. For example, in the famous "Qingfu Cheating Case", Qingfu Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. built a civilian ship in its early years, and won the contract for six mine-hunting ships of the Taiwan military in 2014. It plans to complete the order by the so-called "national ship made in China". Qingfu Company, while buying mine hunting equipment system from the United States, entrusted Italy to build the first ship, and was busy transferring assets and obtaining loans, and was finally discovered, which also involved people from Taiwan, government and military circles. The disadvantages of Taiwan Province shipbuilding industry can be seen from this. The Budget Center of Taiwan’s legislature thinks that such a huge shipbuilding scale is really inconsistent with Taiwan Province’s actual shipbuilding capacity.
The "Haijian" 2 ship-to-air missile adopts an inclined fixed launch box, and its firing range is limited.
In addition to the sluggish shipbuilding industry, the research and development capabilities of related supporting military industries are also declining. For example, Haijian-2 ship-to-air missile, which was developed by Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1999, claimed to have obtained two key technologies related to the vertical launch of ship-to-air missile, namely missile thrust vector system and "cold launch" technology. However, until 2007, Taiwan’s "Chinese Academy of Sciences" showed the backward inclined fixed launch box, and the vertical launch system has not been followed. Now it can only turn to the United States. In 2019, "Haijian" 2 conducted the first live-fire shooting test on land using the purchased American MK-41 vertical launching system.
If we can find ways to make up for the decline in R&D and construction capacity, then the backwardness of the concepts of Taiwan’s political and military circles, scientific research departments and shipbuilding industry is the biggest shortcoming that it cannot make up for. Let’s take the Haijian 2 missile as an example. The Taiwan military plans to install Haijian 2 on those old frigates to enhance their air defense capabilities. However, due to the hull structure, internal space and missile length, some frigates are not suitable for installing vertical launch systems, so the inclined fixed launch box can also be used as a way to enhance air defense capabilities. It is such a simple technical problem, but the Taiwan military is divided into "inclined launch box faction" and "vertical launch system faction". The two sides do not give in to each other, and even the top defense department needs to come forward to reconcile and compromise. In the 21st century, when the vertical launching system is very popular, Taiwan’s Chinese Academy of Sciences is still thinking about the inclined fixed launching box, and even developed the so-called "integrated shell oblique launching frame", that is, the inclined fixed launching box considering the stealth problem, in order not to destroy the stealth shape of the ship.
The "Tajiang" class missile patrol ship is a well-run project in the so-called "national ship made in China" plan of the Taiwan authorities, but it also exposes that Taiwan Province’s ship-building ability, technology and concept are completely backward, and it is difficult to hold up the so-called "national ship made in China" facade.
