china to launch semi-submerged arsenal~ships

badguy2000

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https://m.sohu.com/n/494717447/

it is reported that china perhaps is to launch a kind of new~concept warship ,semi-submerged arsenal~ship.

the semi~submerged arsenal~ship has a displacement of 20k tons.
it can carry hundreds of missles (including anti~air missles and antiship ballistic missles like df21)and its speed might be much faster than most surface warships.

for its mighty powerfire,highspeed and stealth,it would be a good seawar platform for df21/df26 and might be a game changer in the future seawars.

medias said that the design has been finished and it looks.forward to the order from PLAN.


AND. its chelf designer ,Prof. DONG,died of desease in 2015 after main design works was finished.

Prof. Dong now got praised in public for his contribution to the warship.
 
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Kay

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https://m.sohu.com/n/494717447/

it is reported that china perhaps is to launch a kind of new~concept warship ,semi-submerged arsenal~ship.

the semi~submerged arsenal~ship has a displacement of 20k tons.
it can carry hundreds of missles (including anti~air missles and antiship ballistic missles like df21)and its speed might be much faster than most surface warships.

for its mighty powerfire,highspeed and stealth,it would be a good seawar platform for df21/df26 and might be a game changer in the future seawars.

medias said that the design has been finished and it looks.forward to the order from PLAN.


AND. its chelf designer ,Prof. DONG,died of desease in 2015 after main design works was finished.

Prof. Dong now got praised in public for his contribution to the warship.
Interesting concept..read about arsenal ships and arsenal planes..semi- submerged would be faster and cheaper than a sub-marine while difficult to track
 

AnantS

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Basically it seems concept has been derived from "pontoon" kind of platform(similar to one which India used for testing SLBM)

kinda like:

 
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Kay

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Basically it seems concept has been derived from "pontoon" kind of platform(similar to one which India used for testing SLBM)

kinda like:

Yes...but this is a ship and a very fast one...carrying a lot of weapons...
 

AnantS

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Yes...but this is a ship and a very fast one...carrying a lot of weapons...
yeah I know its a ship.. even pontoons are "ships". In the picture above hull is under water. We can only see bridge.

China will face basic challenges like:
What role it envisages for this kind of ship?
a) Compliment Submarines: Submarines are stealthy when under water, they are vulnerable when near or above surface of water. Same issue will be faced by this concept
What I understand(maybe I am wrong), it intends to use supercavitation for achieving speeds. Which will increase acoustic noise, hence earlier detection.

b) Destroyer/Frigate etc: Where do they house Radar and other electronic paraphernalia?

Overall interesting concept, would be keenly watched
 

Kay

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yeah I know its a ship.. even pontoons are "ships". In the picture above hull is under water. We can only see bridge.

China will face basic challenges like:
What role it envisages for this kind of ship?
a) Compliment Submarines: Submarines are stealthy when under water, they are vulnerable when near or above surface of water. Same issue will be faced by this concept
What I understand(maybe I am wrong), it intends to use supercavitation for achieving speeds. Which will increase acoustic noise, hence earlier detection.

b) Destroyer/Frigate etc: Where do they house Radar and other electronic paraphernalia?

Overall interesting concept, would be keenly watched
I don't think it is designed to be survivable..but I maybe wrong..an arsenal ship should be cheap, expendable- and fast ....better if remote controlled... designed primarily for one time use...but with devastating firepower...
 

badguy2000

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I don't think it is designed to be survivable..but I maybe wrong..an arsenal ship should be cheap, expendable- and fast ....better if remote controlled... designed primarily for one time use...but with devastating firepower...
well, the semisub arsenal~ship surely is not designed to suvivable ,but a perfect aggressive platform to fire df21/df26 with air~defense capacity(unlike submarines,its radar is above watersurface and can detect&guide air~defence missle and shoot down p3/p8 easily..)

its role would be the battleship in 21th century.

of couse,it works only when the long~range communication/search/guide has been worked out,because its own radar can not provide long~range search&guide.

the help from datalink/satellite/other platforms obviously is necessory.

and since df21/df26 are already in service, the communication&search would not be the problem to china,i think.
 
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Adioz

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well, the semisub arsenal~ship surely is not designed to suvivable ,but a perfect aggressive platform to fire df21/df26 with air~defense capacity(unlike submarines,its radar is above watersurface and can detect&guide air~defence missle and shoot down p3/p8 easily..)

its role would be the battleship in 21th century.

of couse,it works only when the long~range communication/search/guide has been worked out,because its own radar can not provide long~range search&guide.

the help from datalink/satellite/other platforms obviously is necessory.

and since df21/df26 are already in service, the communication&search would not be the problem to china,i think.
Can Airborne Early Warning (AEW) be provided by AEW helicopters flying from an arsenal ship?
Also, how exactly do they plan to reduce the wave drag on a semi-submerged hull? I don't understand how it could go faster than surface ships unless you guys have a trick up your sleeves (which apparently you do).

Also, I have my doubts about how the hell does the PLAN have the money to pour into a not-expected-to-survive 20,000 ton displacement (not as much as a surface ship with same displacement, but still huge) vessel with a ship-load of missiles?
The only answer: the platform HAS TO BE SURVIVABLE.

Nevertheless, this is interesting. Can only hope this does not fizzle out as a propaganda tool (the PLAN does not need propaganda tools like these anymore IMHO). When does it make its debut?



Edit: The only way I can see this working as advertised is by working like a normal ship until it reaches its AOR, and then it submerges partially and begins deterrent patrol or combat mission. I still cannot see how it would cruise at speeds greater than surface ships otherwise.

What I understand(maybe I am wrong), it intends to use supercavitation for achieving speeds. Which will increase acoustic noise, hence earlier detection.
Given that the major resistance to propulsion is due to wave drag, I do not see why it would use supercaviation. Also, I cannot fathom the amount of energy a 20,000 ton arsenal ship would require to supercavitate.
 
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badguy2000

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Can Airborne Early Warning (AEW) be provided by AEW helicopters flying from an arsenal ship?
Also, how exactly do they plan to reduce the wave drag on a semi-submerged hull? I don't understand how it could go faster than surface ships unless you guys have a trick up your sleeves (which apparently you do).

Also, I have my doubts about how the hell does the PLAN have the money to pour into a not-expected-to-survive 20,000 ton displacement (not as much as a surface ship with same displacement, but still huge) vessel with a ship-load of missiles?
The only answer: the platform HAS TO BE SURVIVABLE.

Nevertheless, this is interesting. Can only hope this does not fizzle out as a propaganda tool (the PLAN does not need propaganda tools like these anymore IMHO). When does it make its debut?



Edit: The only way I can see this working as advertised is by working like a normal ship until it reaches its AOR, and then it submerges partially and begins deterrent patrol or combat mission. I still cannot see how it would cruise at speeds greater than surface ships otherwise.



Given that the major resistance to propulsion is due to wave drag, I do not see why it would use supercaviation. Also, I cannot fathom the amount of energy a 20,000 ton arsenal ship would require to supercavitate.
https://m.sohu.com/n/494717447/
as for speed,the link has explained that Prof. Dong was praised because his design seccessfully solved perfectly problem.that is why the project receives the attention and may be ordered by PLAN.


as for early warning/searching/guiding system,china should have a ready effective one integrating satellites/drones/planes/helicopter/warship/sub/other~platforms.otherwise,DF21/26 would not be in service.

the semi~sub arsenal ship would be members of chinese AC group and work within AC's air~cover. so it is surely is not a not~expected~to~survive ship.
instead,with its low~profile and highspeed, it can survive more easily than most surface warships.


morever,once such semi~sub arsenalships join chinese AC group( it is reported one such asenalship can carry 40-60 df21), it means chinese AC groups can extend their effective antiship fire~cover~range to 1500-2000KM(the range of df21).

it means USA AC groups have to keep 1500Km away from Chinese navy fleet at least,if they want to avoid saturation attack.

that will be a revolution of seawar.
 
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Adioz

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https://m.sohu.com/n/494717447/
as for speed,the link has explained that Prof. Dong was praised because his design seccessfully solved perfectly problem.that is why the project receives the attention and may be ordered by PLAN.


as for early warning/searching/guiding system,china should have a ready effective one integrating satellites/drones/planes/helicopter/warship/sub/other~platforms.otherwise,DF21/26 would not be in service.

the semi~sub arsenal ship would be members of chinese AC group and work within AC's air~cover. so it is surely is not a not~expected~to~survive ship.
instead,with its low~profile and highspeed, it can survive more easily than most surface warships.


morever,once such semi~sub arsenalships join chinese AC group( it is reported one such asenalship can carry 40-60 df21), it means chinese AC groups can extend their effective antiship fire~cover~range to 1500-2000KM(the range of df21).

it means USA AC groups have to keep 1500Km away from Chinese navy fleet at least,if they want to avoid saturation attack.

that will be a revolution of seawar.
The link you gave is in Chinese -_-
And Google translate is not a very accurate tool.

These two images given in that article are contradictory from a hydrodynamic standpoint:-



The only thing I could figure out that the article said about overcoming drag was something along the lines of "gas layer drag reduction". From what I understand, this can only help to reduce skin-friction drag and not wave drag. And since this ship is semi-submerged, its going to face a greater design challenge from wave drag. Since I cannot accurately decipher the article due to language barrier, I would be grateful if you helped me out.


The fact that these will operate under Chinese air-cover is relieving. Without air cover, this ship would be toast since it would pretty much be travelling right below the surface without the protection of the thermocline.

I do not understand how a USN CVBG will be acquired as a target when it is 1500 km out. Df-21 is only part of the puzzle, what is the other part?

But now, I am even more convinced of the fact that the PLAN has medium-term plans (pun intended) to venture well beyond the SCS and into the Indian Ocean. And this means, we need to invest HEAVILY in building submarines. We need a whole lot of these and other land-based defences on Andaman and Nicobar to deter PLAN.
When can we expect the first of the Arsenal ships to enter service with the PLAN?

so it is surely is not a not~expected~to~survive ship.
well, the semisub arsenal~ship surely is not designed to suvivable
 

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@Adioz I also dont think this concept can be "disposable"! Unmanned. yes. But a unmanned battleship/destroyer is too complex. And even to make unmanned destroyers either it will need to have conning tower for radars(surface /aerial) and communication equipment Or will need to have escort ships with those equipment(defeating whole purpose)
 
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captscooby81

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Well haven't they talked about a submarine with supersonic speeds before same like this semi submerged arsenal ship ..Did chinese ever made this supersonic submarine operational from the drawing boards ???? or did the author misunderstood this new semi submerged ship as submarine in 2014

China’s supersonic submarine, which could go from Shanghai to San Francisco in 100 minutes, creeps ever closer to reality
Sebastian Anthony on August 27, 2014 at 12:40 pm

Researchers in China are reporting that they’ve taken a big step towards creating a supersonic submarine. This technology, which could just as easily be applied to weaponized torpedoes as military or civilian submarines, could theoretically get from Shanghai to San Francisco — about 6,000 miles — in just 100 minutes. If all this doesn’t sound crazy enough, get this: This new advance by the Chinese is based on supercavitation, which was originally developed by the Soviets in the ’60s, during the Cold War.

As you may already know, it’s a lot harder for an object to move quickly through water than air. This is mostly due to increased drag. Without getting into the complexities of fluid dynamics, water is simply much thicker and more viscous than air — and as a result it requires a lot more energy for an object to push through it. You can experience the increased drag of water yourself next time you’re in a swimming pool: Raise your hand above your head, and then let it fall towards the water. (Or alternatively, if there are people sunbathing nearby, do a belly flop.)

Anyway, much like a small-engined car is ultimately limited by its ability to cut through wind resistance (drag), a submarine or torpedo needs insane amounts of power to achieve high velocity through water. This is why, even in 2014, most submarines and torpedoes can’t go much faster than 40 knots (~46 mph). Higher speeds are possible, but it requires so much power that it’s not really feasible (torpedoes only have so much fuel).


How a normal torpedo works, vs. a supercavitation torpedo

Enter supercavitation, a technique devised by the Soviets in 1960 with the explicit purpose of creating high-speed torpedoes. Supercavitation gets around the drag of water by creating a bubble of gas for the object to travel through. The USSR’s research resulted in the Shkval torpedo, which uses a special nose cone to create the supercavitation envelope, allowing it to travel through the water at speeds of up to 200 knots (~230 mph, 370 kph) — much, much faster than the standard torpedoes fielded by the US.

The only other countries with supercavitational weapons are Iran (which probably reverse-engineered a Russian Shkval), and Germany with its fantastically named Superkavitierender Unterwasserlaufkörper (“supercavitating underwater running body”). The US is researching its own supercavitational torpedo, but there’s very little public information available.



Which brings us neatly onto China. Unlike previous approaches, which have to be launched at high speed (~60 mph) to create the initial supercavitation bubble, the method described by the Harbin Institute of Technology in China uses a “special liquid membrane” that reduces friction at low speeds. This liquid is constantly showered over the object to replenish the membrane as it’s worn off by the water. Once the torpedo/submarine/vessel gets up to speed, it sounds like it uses the same gas-through-nose-cone technique to achieve supercavitation. (Details are a bit vague at this point.)

Read our featured story: The science of beam weapons

In theory, supercavitation could allow for speeds up to the speed of sound — which, underwater, is a heady 1,482 meters per second, or 3,320 mph. At that speed, you could go from Shanghai to San Francisco (about 6,000 miles) in well under two hours. Suffice it to say that there isn’t a country in the world that wouldn’t love to have a submarine that can circumnavigate the world in half a day — especially a country with nuclear missiles, like China, Russia, France, the UK, or the US.


The nose cone of a Russian Shkval (Squall) torpedo. Note the vents for escaping gases, which combined with the flat nose create a supercavitation bubble.

In practice, though, it’s a) very difficult to steer a supercavitating vessel (conventional methods, such as a rudder, won’t work without water contact) — and b) developing an underwater engine that’s capable of high velocity over long distances is very, very difficult. You can’t use a jet engine underwater, sadly — and generally, rockets only have enough fuel for a few minutes, not hours. Nuclear power might be a possibility as far as supersonic submarines go, but that’s just a guess.

Li Fengchen, a professor at the Harbin Institute, says their technology isn’t limited to military use. Yes, supersonic submarines and torpedoes are top of the list — but the same tech could also boost civilian transport, or even boost the speed of swimmers. “If a swimsuit can create and hold many tiny bubbles in water, it can significantly reduce the water drag; swimming in water could be as effortless as flying in the sky,” says Li.

As always with such advanced (and potentially weaponized) technology, it’s hard to say how far away it is from real-world use. If civilian researchers are making good progress, then it’s a fairly safe bet that the military is even further along. Wang Guoyu, another Chinese researcher, told the South China Morning Post: “The primary drive [for supercavitation] still comes from the military, so most research projects are shrouded in secrecy.”
 

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I think the purpose of this vessel is to be armed with hundreds of anti- ship cruise missiles to take down US carrier strike groups. By the time it is located and sunk, it will have released its arsenal.
Being fast, it can accompany fast missile boats. The US defence will concentrate on fast missile boats giving it cover to launch missiles. It is not disposable, but in this type of mission, it should not be expected bto survive. Hence, no point spending on defences.
 

Adioz

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Well haven't they talked about a submarine with supersonic speeds before same like this semi submerged arsenal ship ..Did chinese ever made this supersonic submarine operational from the drawing boards ???? or did the author misunderstood this new semi submerged ship as submarine in 2014

China’s supersonic submarine, which could go from Shanghai to San Francisco in 100 minutes, creeps ever closer to reality
Sebastian Anthony on August 27, 2014 at 12:40 pm

Researchers in China are reporting that they’ve taken a big step towards creating a supersonic submarine. This technology, which could just as easily be applied to weaponized torpedoes as military or civilian submarines, could theoretically get from Shanghai to San Francisco — about 6,000 miles — in just 100 minutes. If all this doesn’t sound crazy enough, get this: This new advance by the Chinese is based on supercavitation, which was originally developed by the Soviets in the ’60s, during the Cold War.

As you may already know, it’s a lot harder for an object to move quickly through water than air. This is mostly due to increased drag. Without getting into the complexities of fluid dynamics, water is simply much thicker and more viscous than air — and as a result it requires a lot more energy for an object to push through it. You can experience the increased drag of water yourself next time you’re in a swimming pool: Raise your hand above your head, and then let it fall towards the water. (Or alternatively, if there are people sunbathing nearby, do a belly flop.)

Anyway, much like a small-engined car is ultimately limited by its ability to cut through wind resistance (drag), a submarine or torpedo needs insane amounts of power to achieve high velocity through water. This is why, even in 2014, most submarines and torpedoes can’t go much faster than 40 knots (~46 mph). Higher speeds are possible, but it requires so much power that it’s not really feasible (torpedoes only have so much fuel).


How a normal torpedo works, vs. a supercavitation torpedo

Enter supercavitation, a technique devised by the Soviets in 1960 with the explicit purpose of creating high-speed torpedoes. Supercavitation gets around the drag of water by creating a bubble of gas for the object to travel through. The USSR’s research resulted in the Shkval torpedo, which uses a special nose cone to create the supercavitation envelope, allowing it to travel through the water at speeds of up to 200 knots (~230 mph, 370 kph) — much, much faster than the standard torpedoes fielded by the US.

The only other countries with supercavitational weapons are Iran (which probably reverse-engineered a Russian Shkval), and Germany with its fantastically named Superkavitierender Unterwasserlaufkörper (“supercavitating underwater running body”). The US is researching its own supercavitational torpedo, but there’s very little public information available.



Which brings us neatly onto China. Unlike previous approaches, which have to be launched at high speed (~60 mph) to create the initial supercavitation bubble, the method described by the Harbin Institute of Technology in China uses a “special liquid membrane” that reduces friction at low speeds. This liquid is constantly showered over the object to replenish the membrane as it’s worn off by the water. Once the torpedo/submarine/vessel gets up to speed, it sounds like it uses the same gas-through-nose-cone technique to achieve supercavitation. (Details are a bit vague at this point.)

Read our featured story: The science of beam weapons

In theory, supercavitation could allow for speeds up to the speed of sound — which, underwater, is a heady 1,482 meters per second, or 3,320 mph. At that speed, you could go from Shanghai to San Francisco (about 6,000 miles) in well under two hours. Suffice it to say that there isn’t a country in the world that wouldn’t love to have a submarine that can circumnavigate the world in half a day — especially a country with nuclear missiles, like China, Russia, France, the UK, or the US.


The nose cone of a Russian Shkval (Squall) torpedo. Note the vents for escaping gases, which combined with the flat nose create a supercavitation bubble.

In practice, though, it’s a) very difficult to steer a supercavitating vessel (conventional methods, such as a rudder, won’t work without water contact) — and b) developing an underwater engine that’s capable of high velocity over long distances is very, very difficult. You can’t use a jet engine underwater, sadly — and generally, rockets only have enough fuel for a few minutes, not hours. Nuclear power might be a possibility as far as supersonic submarines go, but that’s just a guess.

Li Fengchen, a professor at the Harbin Institute, says their technology isn’t limited to military use. Yes, supersonic submarines and torpedoes are top of the list — but the same tech could also boost civilian transport, or even boost the speed of swimmers. “If a swimsuit can create and hold many tiny bubbles in water, it can significantly reduce the water drag; swimming in water could be as effortless as flying in the sky,” says Li.

As always with such advanced (and potentially weaponized) technology, it’s hard to say how far away it is from real-world use. If civilian researchers are making good progress, then it’s a fairly safe bet that the military is even further along. Wang Guoyu, another Chinese researcher, told the South China Morning Post: “The primary drive [for supercavitation] still comes from the military, so most research projects are shrouded in secrecy.”
The real problem would be when the submarine has to stop the supercavitation. If the cavitation bubble broke, it would literally crush the submarine. If the submarine developed some technical fault mid-flight and the bubble collapsed, the submarine would be done for. And all this becomes a problem after the issues pointed out in the article are resolved (which most likely will not happen soon, if ever).

I think the purpose of this vessel is to be armed with hundreds of anti- ship cruise missiles to take down US carrier strike groups. By the time it is located and sunk, it will have released its arsenal.
Being fast, it can accompany fast missile boats. The US defence will concentrate on fast missile boats giving it cover to launch missiles. It is not disposable, but in this type of mission, it should not be expected bto survive. Hence, no point spending on defences.
The Arsenal ship is actually a USN concept. Here is an interesting discussion I found on the same :-
The Arsenal Ship Revisited. Again.

Do give it a read, its short enough.

A few posts from this discussion that deserve mention (although it needs to be read in the context of the entire thread to be fully understood):-

The huge arrays of missiles mooted make no sense. One missile or torpedo (or accident) & you lose the lot.

If there's a real concern about warships needing reloads (& I'm not convinced this is a problem for the USN), then perhaps some modest (frigate?) sized hulls, with machinery to enable 'em to keep up, but lacking hangars, helicopters & most of the expensive sensors etc of a real frigate. Short-range self-defence weapons only (it'd be embarrassing to lose one to a skiff full of pirates), plus a battery of VLS to be paired up with offboard sensors (but I share the concerns of others about that). Gets round the eggs/basket problem.
Put like this it would almost make some sence for mid sized navies like Australia and Brazil. Kept in extended readiness, manned by reservists and used as a surge cappacity.
You could decide to build OPV's with plenty of margin in them? Something that works right now in a low intensity situation, as they've got space to handle RIB's, a landing deck etc, but woven into the margins in a large OPV you could easily find some weight for mk41 ? Normal peace time crew for stop and search, balloon goes up, open some soft patches, drop the mk41's into place and insert some hostilities only guys to handle some more tasks, and you'd have some extra shooters if need be, inside of possibly a few weeks?
I daresay this is exactly what the Indian Navy is doing. :)
 

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Has China revived the Arsenal Ship, but in semi-submersible?

China might be designing a new class of warship that incorporates, at least in part, the concept of the Arsenal Ship but in the form of semi-submersible. This is in any case what lets believe a new rumor circulating since last week.

According to this Chinese source, the project of a platform "omni-roles" whose displacement exceeds "thousands of tons" would be launched.

The image broadcast by the same source thus draws a semi-submersible vessel having two massifs, situated at the front and at the rear, and between which there are a number of vertical launching silos.

The author also states that the vessel can not fully dive underwater, and is capable of operating alone without being accompanied by a carrier group, to address air, submarine and naval targets And on the ground.

So is this another amateur fantasy "putaclic", as some said, to dream of doing as "the great" in his time with the grandiose concept of the Arsenal ship?

Well, maybe not for this time.

It was in August 2016 when we saw a funny crook in a local television report, which pays tribute to a teacher-researcher of the University of Engineer of the Chinese Navy, Age of 49 years. According to the presentation, man contributed greatly to the study of the hydrodynamics and navigation performance of military ships in China.

Sketch appeared in a televised report on Professor DONG Wen Cai (excerpt: 新闻 新闻)

After the exchange with a friend, naval design expert, about what he might be like ship type, the latter thinks it is a "small froud high barcass with total resistance equation Rt therefore of the non-archimedean drag, with a semi-gliding V shell with lateral volumes (ballasts ??), and a double pair of non-retractable stabilizers with different dimensions ".

"... in short the guy (a hydro) bump on a fast boat project ...", he adds.

Several avenues had been put forward in our discussion - a new tanker to follow a carrier group, a kind of semi-submersible rapid infiltration like the I-SILC model used by the North Koreans, or a semi-submersible like the one constructed In 2013 for the Israeli Navy to replace the Alligator class .

But none of these assumptions seems totally convincing.

A few days later, Chinese television channel CCTV-7 broadcast another report on the same researcher DONG Wen Cai (董文 才), and you can see in a passage a three-to-four-meter-long drone ship, probably one Prototype, testing at the lake.


Testing a small semi-submersible to the lake (CCTV-7 image)

Curiosity leads us to dig deeper into the final subjects of study of this Chinese military researcher, who has been awarded four national awards for his research and who has directed the work of some twenty doctoral students.

It was then learned that DONG had been working for ten years on two main themes - the active reduction of the drag by the formation of a layer of bubble under the hull, and a new conceptual platform called HSWPVW (High Speed Wave Piercing Vehicle with Wings), which combines the concepts of high-speed monohull, piercing hydrofoil and semi-submersible.

This second theme was the subject of a major subject financed by the NSFC , a foundation directly attached to the State Council, chaired by the Chinese Prime Minister, between 2009 and 2011.

According to some academic documents co-authored by DONG published, the HSWPVW is a ship that is designed to swap between 4 different modes of navigation depending on the needs - immersed at periscopic depth, semi-submersible, surface navigation at normal speed , And semi-hovering at high speed.


The conceptual platform section HSWPVW (Image: NSFC)


The 4 navigation modes of the HSWPVW platform (Image: NSFC)


Tests at different speeds of a HSWPVW model (Image: NSFC)
After a few years of preliminary theoretical studies, the research of the team of the Chinese Naval Engineering University, led by DONG and assisted by the 701 Institute of the Chinese naval group CSIC, seem to have taken great strides and Completed the demonstration trials in October 2013, with a small-scale remote-controlled ship weighing about a ton .

Some research findings have been directly applied in the development of "thousands of tonne" vessels, according to the report submitted to the NSFC committee.

An article published in September 2016 by the Xinhua news agency gives even an important clarification on these tests - it was the technological demonstration phrase of a major (military) project called "New Rapid Fight Platform".


The Demonstration Vessel (Photos: 新华网)

The death of DONG in January 2016 means that we no longer heard about the rest of the project, at least in the press. But another very emblematic military researcher, Mr. A. Wei Ming (马伟明), a specialist in electrical engineering and naval propulsion of the Chinese Navy and academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, referred in April this year to the notion of "omni Roles " , which" will upset the style of existing naval combat ".

This "all powerful" ship is like the Arsenal ship, a concept emerged in 1988 in the United States and supported by Jeremy BOORDA, former admiral and 25th chief of naval operations of the US Navy, whose objective is to propose An alternative solution to the projection capabilities that a carrier group represents around aircraft carriers.

Like the American Arsenal ship, MA speaks of a ship whose combat radius extends up to 1,000 km, with numerous missiles and directed energy weapons, made possible thanks to the recent advances in the electromagnetic field in China.

It is not known for the moment whether there is a direct link between the project of this "new rapid combat platform" HSWPVW on which Professor Dong works and the "omni-roles ship" evoked by MA, Already assume that the Chinese navy is studying very actively on its fighting ships the day after tomorrow, while a new generation of Chinese first-line ship - such as Type 4104 Type 054B frigate , medium destroyer Type 052D Of 6,000 tons, and the Type 055 multi-purpose destroyer of 12,000 tons to name but a few - is currently under construction.

Is it realistic and feasible to design an Arsenal ship semi-submersible? Our skills are limited to speak intelligently. It will certainly depend on the vision of the Chinese navy on future naval combat and also the main threats it may face, starting with the naval air groups, for example, which still today, 100 years after their apparitions, The most effective force projection tool.

But we can imagine, perhaps utopian, a stealth semi-submersible platform, moving between 6,000 and 12,000 tons and highly automated, which will serve as one of the pivot points to increase the firepower of a Based on a few naval battle groups, relying mainly on the data received by other distributed sensors.

And this concept of almost "blind" weapon carrying platform is not new to the Chinese navy, in reality. The Type 22 stealth missile launcher , specially designed after the Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996, is a typical example.

Weakly equipped with sensors, except those needed for its navigation needs, the Type 22 built more than 80 units serves mainly as launch platform for the Chinese Navy. The ship uses almost exclusively the firing parameters received from elsewhere to launch its 8 anti-ship missiles, approaching close enough to its targets like the carriers and its escort ships thanks to its carefully worked stealth.

FAC Type 22

Of course, there are still many questions about this type of semi-submersible concept, if in addition it is used in the same way as the starting Arsenal ship.

How can it integrate into the existing system of the Chinese navy? What will be the doctrine of use? What is the best move for this ship? What type of propulsion - nuclear, CODOG, CODAD - will be the most suitable for its multi-modes of navigation and its needs? How can he ensure that he remains "connected" to the rest of the world? What about its reliability and maintainability if the ship is highly automated? …etc., etc.


Concept of semi-submersible frigate devised by Erbil SERTER (Image: Jane's IDR Quarterly report 1997)

Whatever the case, if the project really exists, it also makes one think of the semi-submersible frigate of 3 000 tons drawn by Erbil SERTER in the 90's. And given the progress of the studies and the few known dates to date, it is unlikely that the Chinese shipyards have already started the construction of such a semi-submersible Arsenal ship as some media claim, China as elsewhere.

On the other hand, it can be reasonably assumed that a concrete warship project, or at least an experimental vessel, has been approved and gives permission to certain Chinese consultancy firms, such as the CSIC Institute 701 For example, to start officially the initial design, now that the pre-studies are a prior completed.

To be continued.
 
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badguy2000

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china is investing heavily on so many military projects that it is so hard to believe that chinese defence expenditure is only 20% of Usa.

either the value of RMB is underrated ,or lots of chinese defence expenditure is hidden.

otherwise, 1 trilion RMB(0.16 trillon USD,chinese defenceexpenditure 2016) can not support R&D of so j20/y20/j31
/055.....while maintaining the daily operation of 2m active soldiers
 

SanjeevM

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Are we in India working on anything similar or better? I hope Indian agencies look into this technology and work on it. It's the Chinese competition that's keeping us at a higher growth trajectory. We should have a better technology so that we are not bullied by China.
 

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