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In the history of modern naval ship development, the Ticonderoga-class missile cruiser that the US Navy served in 1983 is definitely an epoch-making ship type because it is equipped with a brand new naval combat system, which is the famous "Aegis" system. In the following decades, this configuration solution integrating long-range phased array radar , missile vertical launch system and ship-wide integrated combat management system became the benchmark for the development of the world's naval surface ship .
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■The USS Ticonderoga cruiser, which is undergoing sea trials in Gulf of Mexico , was taken on May 6, 1982.
"Shield Shield" has become synonymous with high-performance surface ships in the eyes of the world. If a warship does not have a few square "Shields" (planar antenna array of phased array radar) installed on , it is simply announcing to the outside world: I am behind.
However, the "Shield Ship" is not something that anyone wants to build. If you want to build it, you can build it. Even if it has been on the market for nearly 40 years, if you do not have enough strength and technical accumulation, you can only sigh at the "Shield" and do nothing. Taiwan Navy fell a big hit in front of the threshold of the "Shield Ship"!
earthquake-sea plan
In the 2023 "Defense Budget" announced by the Taiwan authorities this year, people found that the "Sea Plan" that has been delayed many times has finally disappeared completely, replaced by the so-called "new generation light frigate" project, namely, the construction of two light frigate with a displacement of 2,000 tons, which are responsible for the air defense and anti-submarine tasks respectively. This news is not surprising at all, because the "Shocking Plan" that the Taiwan Navy has high hopes for, that is, the 4,500-ton frigate project, has been inherently deficient since the moment it was proposed, and it has been full of ups and downs and has had many misfortunes. It is a helpless necessity to be cancelled now.
Due to the original Jiyang class (US Navy Knox class), Chenggong class (US Navy Perry class improved self-built version) and Kangding class (introduced French Navy Lafayette class), a total of 22 frigates are facing aging and updating problems, so the Taiwan Navy has long begun to consider successor new ships.
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■Taiwan Navy Jiyang-class frigate No. 4 "Lanyang" (FFG 935) is sailing out of Keelung Port . It was taken on March 16, 2015. This frigate has a history of 51 years and needs to be replaced urgently.
On June 20, 2016, the Taiwan Navy announced 12 ambitious shipbuilding plans for the future, among which the "Sea Shock Plan" used to replace the above-mentioned frigates is particularly eye-catching, because this means that the major transformation of the Taiwan Navy's main surface combat forces represents the overall development idea for the future and will naturally be valued by the outside world!
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■The legend of the future 12 shipbuilding plans announced by the Taiwan Navy Command in 2016 (partial).
According to the design parameters announced by the Taiwan Navy on May 16, 2017, the "new generation missile frigate" is 138 meters long, 16.5 meters wide, with a displacement of 4,500 tons, and a speed of more than 27.5 knots (about 51 kilometers per hour). It is required to be equipped with phased array radar and missile vertical launch system with an effective detection distance of more than 300 kilometers. It uses the vertical launch of the "Sea Bow" ship-air and air missile developed by the Taiwan Academy of Sciences as regional air defense missiles. The anti-ship weapon is the "Xiongfeng" type two/3 anti-ship missile. The short-range air defense uses the "Haijieling" missile, plus a 76mm main gun.
■Schematic diagram of the "New Generation Missile Frigate" announced by the Taiwan Navy on June 20, 2016.
The warship hull, propulsion and power systems are the responsibility of the winning shipyard, and the ship's military preparations, accusation, investigation, communication and other combat systems are all responsible by the "Central Academy of Sciences". The chaos of the "Sea Shock Plan" has been laid here.
The Navy estimated that the entire ship's cost was about NT$15 billion NT$4 (about US$465 million), of which the hull cost about NT$6 billion (about US$186 million), and the remaining combat equipment cost about NT$9 billion (about US$279 million).
lay the root of the disaster
In August 2017, the Taiwan Navy exhibited the "New Generation Missile Frigate" model for the first time, showing that it is a dual-axis and double-rudder configuration. The ship's military equipment includes a 76mm naval gun, four groups of eight-unit 32-unit vertical launch systems are planned to adopt the Mk41 system introduced from the United States, two groups of semi-buried four-unit anti-ship missile launch devices, one anti-submarine helicopter , and one 30mm cannon on both sides of the hangar, and one MK-15 "intensive array" close-defense weapon system is installed on the top of the hangar.
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■The "New Generation Missile Frigate" model exhibited by the Taiwan Navy in 2017.
The upper structure behind the front bridge is equipped with a four-sided fixed phased array radar array, and the fully enclosed mast at the rear is used to install antennas for other electronic devices. The vertical launch system should be the "Haigong 3" and "Haijian-2" air defense missiles developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Since the two missiles, , are guided by active radars, there is no irradiation radar on the ship, and only a naval gunfire control radar is installed on the top of the bridge.
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■ Navy's "New Generation Missile Frigate" model details, pay attention to the phased array radar array on the superstructure.
This design seems to be fair and stable, and it fully meets the so-called "national ships and national manufacturing". If it can be realized, it will be a successful move, but the Taiwan Navy has ignored two very important things.
- At that time, among the "shield ships" in the world, there was no ship with a phased array radar detection distance of more than 300 kilometers that could control the displacement below 5,000 tons (actually, there is no one now). Even the smallest Norwegian Royal Navy Nansen-class frigate , known as the "big head baby", has a full load displacement of 5,290 tons.
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■The first ship of the Norwegian Royal Navy Nansen-class frigate "Frichev Nansen" (left) and the fourth ship "Herg Ingstad" were anchored in Oslo . It was taken on April 24, 2010. Is the nickname "Big Head Baby" very vivid?
, and the Nansen-class is equipped with the US AN/SPY-1F passive phased array radar. Due to the displacement limitation, the number of radar antennas arrays is small. In this case, the power supply capacity is still insufficient. The four-sided phased array antenna can only be turned on in turn. The air condition update speed is slow and it does not have regional air defense capabilities.
Second, at that time, the "Chinese Academy of Sciences" did not have the most critical ship-based phased array radar , which was built in the hands of the "Shield Ship"! Not only does there not have finished products, there are not even test items, there are no passive phased arrays, and there are not active phased arrays. It can be said that there is nothing. Oh, it may not be accurate to say this, because as early as the early 1980s, when the Chinese Academy of Sciences was developing the "Tiangong-1" medium- and long-range surface-to-air missile, it cooperated with the US RCA to introduce and develop the "Changbai" passive phased array radar. At that time, it was the first land-based air defense missile in Asia and the third world equipped with phased array radar.
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■The "Changbai" passive phased array radar as the supporting project of the "Tiangong-1" air defense missile.
This sounds really amazing. However, although the Chinese Academy of Sciences claims that the "Changbai" radar was developed independently by them, in fact, the radar hardware is all from the United States, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has only developed relevant command and control software because Americans cannot provide software due to confidentiality factors.
has no phased array, no vertical launch (the introduction of Mk 41 is just an idea at this time, and it will not be obtained until two years later), three-no missiles (two types of ship-based air defense missiles are still under development), four-no combat systems (not having hardware, so naturally there is no way to talk about software), the "Sea Shock Plan" of the "New Generation Missile Frigate" of the Taiwan Navy is on the road with the mission of creating the world's smallest "shield ship". It can be called the Taiwan Navy version of "how bolder people are and how much production the land is."
Stillbirth
problems quickly began to be exposed.
In May 2018, it was reported that the planned tonnage of the "new generation of missile frigates" was insufficient. Even if it was expanded to 5,500 tons, it could only be equipped with the "Shishield" combat system ("Xunlian" system) developed by the "Chinese Academy of Sciences". There was no margin to be installed. Therefore, the "Chinese Academy of Sciences" recommends further enlarging the displacement to 6,200 tons. However, the news was denied by the Taiwan Navy, claiming that the configuration of the "new generation of missile frigates" remains unchanged, the work progress is normal, and everything is carried out in an orderly manner as planned.
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■Details of the model of the "new generation of missile frigate" in Taiwan Navy.
At the end of July 2018, it was revealed that the passive phased array of the "Changbai" radar of the "Central Academy of Sciences" encountered a bottleneck in miniaturization and it was difficult to install the hull designed by the "Sea Shock Plan". The Chinese Academy of Sciences once tried to disperse some of the back-end (signal and data processing) equipment of radar to solve the problem of excessive center of gravity caused by the installation of all equipment in the same layer structure, but found that the problem of signal transmission distortion occurred after separation, which could not be solved.
This is embarrassing. The things from the "Chinese Academy of Sciences" are not small and cannot be separated, and they cannot be installed as they are. Amplify the hull to accommodate the capabilities of the "Chinese Academy of Sciences", but the Navy is not willing. In fact, there is another workaround, which is to give up the four-sided fixed array and switch to a single-sided or double-sided rotating array, which can also effectively reduce weight, but in this way, the radar scanning and refresh frequency will inevitably decrease, which will affect tactical performance. The Taiwan Navy, which is more enthusiastic, will not agree. The two sides were in a deadlock.
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■ Israel ship-based EL/M-2258 ALPHA advanced light phased array radar is a single-sided rotating phased array radar.
But why did the Taiwan Navy insist on keeping its 4,500 tons of water displacement stuck? Of course they have their own little ones.
The "new generation missile frigate" planned by the Navy is very close to the existing frigate of several-class frigates. Among its five main bases, the largest Zuoying Military Port has 3 docks, and Keelung, Suao and Magong each have 1 dock. Excluding one submarine special dock in Zuoying, the other 5 docks need to be repaired and maintained. Among them, about 35 ships of various types of , of which only the Xinzhuang Ganwu and Suao docks in Zuoying can accommodate 4,000-ton frigates.
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■The Taiwan Navy's Jiyang-class frigate "Fenyang" (FFG 934) is undergoing docking operations before overhauling in Suao dry dock.
If this tonnage exceeds this tonnage, you can only entrust the dock of the private shipyard. In this way, the Taiwan Navy must cooperate with other people's schedules and cannot arrange according to its own wishes. Moreover, the Taiwan Coast Guard Administration does not have its own dock, and their ships will be handed over to private shipyards for maintenance. There will inevitably be conflicts between the two sides, which will seriously interfere with the Taiwan Navy's ship dispatch and combat readiness rate.
At that time, the Taiwan Navy had already 7 ships including 4 Keelung-class destroyers exceeded their own dock limit and could only be outsourced for maintenance. If the planned 20 "new generation missile frigates" were also required to be outsourced for maintenance, it would be difficult to deploy. They are unwilling to spend extra money to build new docks to meet their needs. This should be the main reason why the "new generation of missile frigates" must adhere to the set sizes (the total length does not exceed 140 meters, the ship width does not exceed 17 meters, the draft does not exceed 8 meters) and the displacement of 4,500 tons.
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■ The tail details of the Navy’s “New Generation Missile Frigate” model.
In 2019, the budget of NT$168 million (approximately US$5.21 million) compiled for the "Sea Shock Plan" was only implemented 2.58%, and the project is close to shutdown. Under the stalemate, the configuration of the Taiwan Navy's "new generation missile frigate" changed in 2020. The area of the fixed array on all four sides of the front was reduced, and a rotating three-coordinate air-to-air search radar was added to the rear. This should be to reduce weight and use the X-band and reduce the area of the fixed array, and then add an S-band air-to-air search radar at the rear to make up for the insufficient detection distance of the X-band. To meet the displacement limit, the missile hanging system located in the front of the hull has also been reduced from the previous four sets of 32 units to three sets of 24 units.
■ Imagination of the Taiwan Navy's "new generation missile frigate" in 2020.
At this time, the Taiwan Navy no longer looked down on the passive phased array radar that the "Central Academy of Sciences" has never met the weight loss requirements, but requires the adoption of active phased arrays. The acquisition method has also shifted from independent research and development to foreign purchases, and has successively contacted American Lockheed Martin , Raytheon , British Aerospace Systems Corporation (BAE), French Thales Group and an Turkish company.
However, due to political factors, system complexity, time constraints and other reasons, these companies have all performed indifferently.
The end of the Taiwan Navy begins to prepare to upgrade the Kangding class frigate in 2021, with a total budget of NT$43.16 billion (about US$1.338 billion). The planning cycle is from 2022 to 2030, which indicates that the "new generation of missile frigates" will be abandoned. At the same time, they had realized at least in 2019 that the "new generation of missile frigates" may be difficult to produce, and began to prepare for the enlarged version of the 6,500-ton and reduced versions of the 2,500-ton frigate configuration.
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■Kangding class frigate has the weakest air defense capability and needs priority upgrade.
Finally, in 2022, the "Shock Sea Plan" that was originally highly anticipated by the Taiwan Navy has died. In 6 years, people have only seen one model and one imaginary diagram.
Two blamed each other
Faced with the questioning of the "legislators" about the "Shock Sea Plan", the Taiwan Navy and the "Chinese Academy of Sciences" began their own performance without surprise.
According to the Taiwan military's weapons and equipment development and project establishment process, the Navy is the demand unit, responsible for providing relevant information, and then the project undertaking unit "Chinese Academy of Sciences" will produce the overall project planning book. At the beginning of the "Sea Shock Plan", the project planning book completed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences stated that the use of passive phased array radar was used. However, the Navy later changed its course and required that active phased array radar must be used on the grounds that the passive phased array technology was outdated.
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■Specification parameters of the "New Generation Missile Frigate" announced by the Taiwan Navy in 2020.
This has become the focus of both sides' blaming each other.
"Chinese Academy of Sciences" stated that the postponement of the "Xunlian Special Project" he was responsible for was because the Mk 41 vertical launch system introduced from the United States was one year later than the original plan, and the project was postponed by one year accordingly. The passive phased array radar and combat management system indicated in the project planning book have been completed and a preliminary combat assessment was passed in October 2020. Regarding the outside world's doubts about the phased array radar being too large and too heavy, the Chinese Academy of Sciences believes that it has clarified many times that this type of radar "complies with the specifications" and "is not too large".
Taiwan Navy doesn't think so. They believe that when the phased array radar project of the "Sea Shock Project" began to be launched 10 years ago, the technical level of the "Chinese Academy of Sciences" could only develop passive phased array radars, but as time progresses, combat needs have changed. In order to adapt to the combat requirements of the next 40-year life cycle of the new generation of frigates, the Navy believes that it is necessary to switch to active phased array radars. Therefore, the "Chinese Academy of Sciences" should modify the project plan according to the navy's new needs and pass the test before it can enter the next step.
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■2020 Taiwan Navy's "New Generation Missile Frigate" side view.
At the same time, it was reported that the main reason why the new generation of frigates in the Taiwan Navy has repeatedly delayed is that the combat system developed by the "Chinese Academy of Sciences" cannot meet the needs of the navy, but it is unwilling to hand over the project leadership, which has led to the navy being unable to start a new product and choosing to introduce related products from abroad, thus falling into a dilemma.
Navy's Responsibilities
Although the Taiwan Navy performed very strongly, it is not difficult to see that the main responsibility lies in the fact that the Taiwan Navy violated the objective laws of equipment research and development and made relatively serious mistakes.
First of all, whether it is a warship or civilian ship, it is used to perform tasks, rather than a recreational ship in the park. It must be a ship (ship) adaptation content, not the other way around.
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■Schematic diagram of the main military layout of the Taiwan Navy's "New Generation Missile Frigate" in 2020.
That is to say, the specifications and parameters of the ship's equipment and combat management system should be determined first, as well as the required power supply and refrigeration power and propulsion power, etc., according to the combat tasks required, and then the ship type should be determined, including size, displacement and other specifications. At the same time, after the project is confirmed, excessive changes in the requirements should be avoided as much as possible, so as not to affect all aspects of the project, and even overturn and start over.
However, the Taiwan Navy did the opposite in the "Sea Shock Plan". When the content on the ship still belongs to "no eight characters", it handed over the design work of the "new generation of missile frigate" to the ship center according to the main specifications it set. It was designed from 2017 to 2018. What's more, after the Chinese Academy of Sciences completed the project planning and carried out work as required, the Taiwan Navy abandoned the original passive phased array radar and demanded to change it to an active phased array. This major mid-way change may have a very fatal impact on any project.
Secondly, I don’t know whether it is because of the “confidence” in the technical strength of the “Central Academy of Sciences” or whether it is ignorant of the development level of the world’s navy. When the “Sea Shock Plan” was launched, the Taiwan Navy set an unrealistic goal - to make its “new generation missile frigate” the smallest “shield ship” in the world. You should know that even American fathers dare not think of such a harsh requirement by squeezing a fixed array with a detection distance of more than 300 kilometers into a 4,500-ton ship.
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■ The US Navy's "Shield Shield" full load displacement is at least 8,000 tons. The picture shows the first ship of the Arley Burke-class Aegis destroyer, the Arley Burke (DDG 51), with a full load displacement of 9,000 tons.
The Navy threw a designed hull and such strict conditions to the "Central Academy of Sciences". This condition later became even more harsh (passive array turns into active arrays), which means that my needs can't be changed anyway. If you can't stuff them in, it's your pot. Who made your skills so poor? "Chinese Academy of Sciences" can be said to be "a mute who eats coptis chinensis and cannot express his suffering."
"Central Academy of Sciences" President Zhang Zhongcheng said when he was questioned by the "legislator": "The Navy has needs, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences will work hard to achieve it; the Navy believes that some places need to be improved, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences will step up its pace to build a plan." His grievance when he said this was simply vividly revealed on paper.
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■ "Chinese Academy of Sciences" President Zhang Zhongcheng (stander).
Third, high-performance ship-based active phased array radar is a very complex and extremely difficult large-scale system. Navy of all countries around the world regard it as an independent R&D project, and will be officially put into service after the radar itself matures and passes land tests and ship-based environmental tests.
For example, the SAMPSON radar used on the British Type 45 destroyer originated from the multi-functional electronic scanning radar project in the 1980s. It launched the second generation of test products in 1992. It began to develop SAMPSON radar based on it in 1995. The first prototype product began land testing in 2004. The second prototype product, together with vertically launched air defense missiles and combat systems, was installed on a barge in 2006 and started sea trials. It was not until March 2007 that it officially boarded the first ship of the Type 45 destroyer, the "Brave" (D 32).
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■ SAMPSON radar undergoing land testing.
The FCS-3 active phased array radar of Japan started research as early as 1983, and began land testing of the prototype system in 1988. It began to develop a ship-based version in 1990. It was installed on the "Aobi" experimental ship for sea trials in 1994. It was not until 2004 that it was officially equipped on the Hinata helicopter destroyer .
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■ The Japanese Sea-Zhi Akitsuki-class destroyer "Akitsuki" (DD 115) equipped with the FCS-3 active phased array radar.
Compared with the Taiwan Navy's approach in the "Sea Shock Plan", isn't it a bit too arrogant?
Conclusion
The death of the "Sea Shock Plan" also exposed a chronic disease of the Taiwan military equipment scientific research system, that is, the "Central Academy of Sciences" as an official/semi-official institution has long taken over the military R&D field. On the one hand, it has stifled competition, resulting in the Taiwan military's bidding for bidding for projects; on the other hand, the organizational structure of the "Central Academy of Sciences" is quite different from that of the world's large military-industrial groups, and its efficiency cannot be compared with the latter.
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■ Taichungshan Academy of Sciences (referred to as "Chinese Academy of Sciences") official website.
In addition, the operating model of the "Central Academy of Sciences" is "demand-driven". In other words, only when the military's budget is approved can the "Central Academy of Sciences" have the money to do projects. In addition, it does not have many resources that can independently control, which is different from those large military-industrial groups. Therefore, it is basically difficult for the "Chinese Academy of Sciences" to carry out any forward-looking basic research according to their own ideas. In this way, the technical reserves will naturally be very limited, and it is not surprising that they cannot produce active phased array radar.
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■Taiwan Navy's "ACS Advanced Frigate" model.
This is the second time that the Navy has fallen on the "Shield". The first time was the "ACS Advanced Frigate" program launched in the 1990s (known as the "Little Aegis"), which was cancelled in 1995. The mistakes they made in the research and development of major equipment are of great significance and are basically "high-minded and low-key". They do not base themselves on their actual situation, but blindly pursue high standards, ignore the high risks hidden in high technology, and end up in a mess.
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■The ship type photos of each stage of the "Sea Shock Plan".
People often say that a century-old navy. The navy's equipment is very expensive and the R&D cycle is very long. Once there is a problem with the systemic planning, it will often lead to huge losses and waste. At the least, it will be useless and delay decades of development.
Even if it is as strong as the US Navy, it cannot withstand the continuous tossing of Zumwalter-class destroyers and Littoral combat ship science fiction novels. One of these two types of warships cannot find their own position when doing nothing, and the other has just been in service for ten years, which has led to unprecedented tension in the warships that the US Navy can use. The already old Ticonderoga-class cruiser cannot retreat even if it wants to. The lessons learned in this are definitely worthy of deep consideration by all those who are determined by the ocean.
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■The US Navy's Ticonderoga-class cruiser "CG 68" (CG 68) photographed in April this year is already worn out. After years of application by the US Navy, Congress reluctantly approved the retirement of five Ticonderoga-class cruisers this year. The USS Anzio was just retired on September 22.
