Saturday, October 25, 2008

Jiangwei and F-22P

F-22P in many ways are based on Jiangwei. Of course, it took bits and pieces from 054 series, but its basic hulls and weaponry are more similar to Jiangwei than anything else in PLAN. I thought I'd do a little comparison between the two class of ships.
The first sample is 527, which is one of the 2 ships that were built after the first pair of 054. In a way, they are the final and best installment of the Jiangweis. The pictures below show the ship operating with a Z-9C helicopter.




The next photo shows 524, an earlier Jiangwei completed in 1999, operating in the sea.


Comparing the two, their weapons fit is exactly the same. They both use HH-7, type 79 main gun, YJ-83 and four 37 mm AA gun. The sensors are mostly the same, except that the FCR for the 37mm is clearly different on 527. You can see that with the one installed on top of the hangar. And the FCR for the Type 79 is also different, if you look at the foremast. It appears that 527 is using the one we see on 054 series (Type 344?).
And finally, how does it compare to the F-22P? The final photos show 251, the first of the F-22P class, sitting in HD shipyard getting fitted out.




Obviously, the hulls are different, with F-22P showing more of a stealthy design (adopting some concept from 054A). At the same time, the main gun and AA guns for it are completely different from the Jiangweis. You can also see that the sensors used for them are upgraded due to the newer guns being used. There is one additional search radar and possibly an ELOP tracker to guide the 30 mm. A lot of this is hard to tell until we get more detailed photos with the covers on the sensors taken off. The SAM and the SSM fit is mirror images of what you saw on Jiangwei. I would say that a hull with F-22P's size probably can't handle any other kind of missile system. The changes seen on F-22P are basically changes that can be quickly applied from a Jiangwei ship without dramatic changes. These things are relatively safe and would not require the much added sea worthy test for a new hull.

2 comments:

ASIAN DEFENCE said...

are you saying that f-22P carries YJ-83?????????????

Feng said...

it carries C-802 and the SAM on F-22P is FM-90N, but they are generally comparable to YJ-83 and HH-7.