Katana-class missile boat
 Katana Class missile boat
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Sabre Class Missile Boat |
| Builders: | Arthuristan Dynamics |
| Operators: | Commonwealth Navy |
| Preceded by: | Albatross Class |
| Succeeded by: | Rapier-class corvette |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Missile Boat |
| Displacement: | 171 tonnes |
| Length: | 34.6m |
| Beam: | 7.2m |
| Draught: | 3m |
| Propulsion: | 3 x diesel engines |
| Speed: | 33kn |
| Range: | 2,000km at 12kn |
| Complement: | 18 |
| Sensors and processing systems: | Navigation radar |
| Armament: |
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The Katana-class is an Arthuristan missile boat design, which entered service in the early-1990s with the Commonwealth Navy. It is also heavily promoted for export overseas.
The Katana was conceived as a very basic and economical missile boat design, which could be deployed in large numbers for coastal defence purposes. It also had a secondary goal of securing export orders from developing nations eager for capable assets capable of deterring much more powerful naval forces on a modest budget.
The Katana is very small even by the standard of missile boats, displacing a mere 171 tonnes. The hull is constructed using steel, while the superstructure uses aluminium and is coated with radar-absorbing paint. Overall, its radar signature is roughly equivalent to that of a motorboat or fishing boat and the vessel is easily concealable in the cluttered radar environment of littoral regions.
Its weapons and other systems were, as far as possible, recycled from old warships scrapped or in reserve, including their machine guns, navigation radars and the missiles of the first twenty vessels of the class in Arthuristan service. Some of the 20mm FF autocannons installed on vessels in Arthuristan service, for instance, were refurbished anti-aircraft weapons dating back to the 1940s.
The newer vessels in Arthuristan service, as well as those intended for export, are armed with the modern ACM-13 Lilith instead, and their manually-aimed 20mm guns are often replaced by an automated Typhoon Weapon Station.
There is also a patrol boat version, marketed as the Katana-P, which omits the missiles but has a Typhoon fitted by default.