Meng Dae-wŏn-class missile boat
 KYD Meng Dae-wŏn in 2014, during the Innominadan Crisis.
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators: | |
| Preceded by: | |
| Succeeded by: | Ra Ji-yun-class missile boat |
| Subclasses: | Cho Ji-hun class missile boat |
| Built: | 2008-present |
| In commission: | 2010-present |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Missile boat |
| Displacement: | 380 tons full load |
| Length: | 53.0 m |
| Beam: | 13.1 m |
| Draught: | 1.5 m |
| Propulsion: | |
| Speed: | 36 knots |
| Range: | 550 nautical miles (1000 km) |
| Complement: |
|
| Sensors and processing systems: | 1 × HR-44 multipurpose radar |
| Electronic warfare & decoys: | 1 × D-104 datalink |
| Armament: |
|
The Meng Dae-wŏn class is a type of light warship built in Menghe and exported to other countries in Septentrion. In the Menghean Navy's ship categorization scheme, it is classified as a Large Fast Missile Craft (Daehyŏng Yudotan Kwaesokham), though in Anglian sources it is variously described as a corvette, missile boat, or fast attack craft. It has a wave-piercing catamaran hull with a reduced radar and infrared signature. The baseline Meng Dae-wŏn class is armed with sixteen lightweight YDH-26 subsonic missiles, while the Cho Ji-hun subclass (also known as Meng-II) carries four YDH-29 Chŏngryong supersonic anti-ship missiles.
Development
During the first phase of development of the Meng Dae-wŏn class, Menghe and Innominada maintained neutral diplomatic relations, and the class's main role centered on securing surface supremacy in the area around Altacracia and supporting missile strikes in the direction of the Strait of Portcullia. In 2004, however, relations the situation abruptly worsened as Menghean and Innominadan forces backed opposing sides in the Ummayan Civil War, a conflict which also brought Menghe to the brink of war with the Entente Cordiale. The 2005 and 2006 fiscal years saw a major boost in military spending, and a pivot toward assets and tactics oriented toward attacking Innominada's Eastern Fleet in support of any Menghean Army operations on the shore during any potential war. The large early-10s production run of Meng Dae-wŏn missile boats reflects this shift in focus.
Prior to the debut of the Meng Dae-wŏn class, Menghe operated the types of missile-armed fast attack craft. On the one hand were the Plan 215s and Wang Yŏn-sŏk-class corvettes, classified as KYD types (Large Fast Missile Craft). On the other were the Plan 261 missile boats, classified as KY (Fast Missile Craft). By 2005, Letnia was reluctant to license further Wang Yŏn-sŏk construction, and the 215s and 261s were both becoming obsolete, so a major replacement program was needed. The Ministry of National Defense, however, was hesitant to fund two concurrent fast attack craft classes, and many officials in the Navy's procurement office favored developing a single class to subsitute for both. This led to some debate over whether to design the new class as a KY or KYD type.
A single prototype fast attack craft, the Type 1062 missile boat, was ordered in 2002 and delivered in 2004. It had a conventional hull with hydrofoil fins that could retract above the waterline when not in use. Sea trials, however, found that its speed suffered heavily in rough seas, and it was never handed over to the Navy for operational use. With the Type 1062 (KY-type) eliminated from the competition, the Menghean Navy fully embraced the wave-piercing catamaran hullform present on some competing proposals.
A parallel question was whether the new ship should be armed with a 76mm or lighter gun. The Type 1062 only carried a single GBM-30/6 turret, for defense against incoming missiles over the frontal arc. A 76mm gun, while heavier, would allow the new class to engage patrol boats, landing craft, and other FACs, while also providing a measure of protection against larger surface combatants after all missiles had been fired. After Innominada, with its large force of missile boats and irregular light craft, rose in priority as a potential enemy, the 76mm gun accordingly rose in importance. Gun armament was also deemed to be one of the few areas where a fast attack craft is preferable to a low-flying fighter formation in delivering anti-ship missiles toward an enemy force. These requirements eventually coalesced into the current version of the Meng Dae-wŏn class, and the first hull was laid down on 30 June 2008.
Description
The Meng Dae-wŏn class missile boat is said to resemble a Plan 261 missile boat lifted up on catamaran floats. It has a 76mm turret forward and a rectangular superstructure flanked by four squared-off missile boxes. These are in fact fiberglass compartments each containing a four-box YDH-26 launcher, for a total load of 16 anti-ship missiles. Apart from the 76mm dual-purpose gun, anti-aircraft armament consists of a GBM-23/5 Bulkkot close-in weapon system facing aft. This weapon covers a 330-degree firing arc.
For propulsion, the ships rely on two 5,000-kilowatt Samsan diesel engines, one on each side of the hull. Exhaust from the engines is vented into the space between the hulls, masking the infrared signature. The engines power two steerable pump-jets, one on the end of each hull, resulting in high power density and good maneuverability. The hull is made from friction stir welded aluminium to save weight and is sloped and angled to reduce radar cross section.
With its 130kg warhead, the YDH-26 could sink a frigate or corvette, but would only inflict minor damage on an aircraft carrier or other high-value target. It is also subsonic, and lacks the sophisticated networking algorithms of the YDH-28. The Meng Dae-wŏn class makes up for some of these faults by carrying a total of sixteen such missiles, meaning that a formation of four vessels could launch 64 in short succession. The missile's 110-kilometer range would make it difficult to attack targets at the center of an escorted carrier battle group, but groups of Meng Dae-wŏns operating in conjunction with aircraft and other surface ships could overwhelm escorts on the outermost screen of the enemy formation, opening the way for a larger aerial attack.
While the anti-carrier mission has attracted the most attention, the Meng Dae-wŏns are arguably designed and positioned primarily against other types of threats - particularly the light missile craft and rocket-armed speedboats that formed the bulk of the Innominadan Navy. The YDH-26 is effective against targets as light as 200 tons, including other fast attack craft of the same size as the Meng Dae-wŏn, and the large number carried allow one Meng Dae-wŏn to inflict heavy damage on an enemy flotilla. The 76mm gun also provides a major firepower advantage over an Osa-class missile boat or other light gunboat, and is able to match the gun armament of several heavier corvette classes. The wave-piercing hull gives the Meng Dae-wŏn class a speed of 46 knots, faster than many fast attack craft; on all but the calmest seas, it is also able to overtake the actual effective speed of many speedboats, while providing a more stable firing platform for gunfire. The two 12.7mm GCh-75 machine guns on pintle mounts ahead of the bridge stand as testament to the importance the Menghean Navy attached to the light craft role, as does the fact that most were attached to the Goŭn Flotilla and Southwestern Flotilla.
Cho Ji-hun subclass
The Cho Ji-hun class are mostly identical to the Meng Dae-wŏn class, differing only in their missile armament. In place of the enclosed fiberglass launch boxes for the subsonic YDH-26, each vessel in this class carries single launch boxes for YDH-29 Chŏngryong supersonic anti-ship missiles. Because the YDH-29 is roughly four times heavier than the YDH-26, ships built in this configuration only carry four missiles as opposed to sixteen. The YDH-29, however, offers a greatly increased attack range, ranging from 250 kilometers in the sea-skimming mode to 400 kilometers in the high-level cruise mode. With its high terminal speed, it also poses a greater threat to enemy close-range missile defenses, and it can inflict more damage on a large enemy target.
Apart from the revised missile box layout, these vessels are otherwise identical to the baseline Meng Dae-wŏn class. A number of sources suggest that vessels of either class could easily be converted to the other type, as the missile fire control computers are compatible and the YDH-26 launch box covers are removable. Menghean Navy administrative documents, however, generally list them as two separate classes, and they are placed in separate formations, with the Cho Ji-huns assigned to the South Sea Fleet rather than any of the Flotillas. This may reflect deeper differences in role, as the new missile armament gives the Cho Ji-hun type greater striking power and standoff range for attacking escorted targets.
All Cho Ji-hun class vessels were manufactured at the Haeju New Light Craft shipyard, which was built specifically to increase fast attack craft production after a lull in procurement during the 1990s and 2000s.