China's East Sea Naval Fleet Exposed

[kickok1975]

 

[Kunal Biswas]

051C

That Radar is very much like Chinese HT-233 PESA engagement radar or H-200 PESA engagement radars!

Chinese HT-233 engagement radar..


The HT-233 engagement radar has always been regarded to be a derivative of the Russian 30N6E Flap Lid / Tomb Stone series, sharing most of the basic technology in this design. Until this year, available imagery was of very poor quality, and showed a range of configurations carried on 8 x 8 and 10 x 10 variants of the Taian TAS-5380 series chassis.

Production HT-233 systems are being supplied on the 10 x 10 Taian TAS5501, a 30 tonne payload class variant of the TAS5380 vehicle, making it the heaviest derivative of the 30N6E. This feature makes the HT-233 easily identifiable with optical or high resolution imaging radar ISR, against the baseline Russian systems.

While the heavier chassis may reflect volumetric and weight issues earlier in the design of the radar, it also provides for long term growth in processing capability and power rating, as more recent technology will be more compact and dissipate less.

The octagonal or truncated square passive phased array is claimed to employ 4,000 phase shifter elements. Unlike the 30N6E, the array shape is easily resolved due to the absence of the rectangular dielectric external cover used on the Russian radar. The HT-233 carries an IFF/SSR array antenna installed at the top of the primary antenna frame structure, which is structurally extended. The space feed design appears indistinguishable from the 30N6E1 design, including the mechanical arms used to deploy the feed assembly.

Recently cited capabilities include a 300 MHz instantaneous bandwidth in the lower X-Band or C-Band, a detection/track range of 150/100 km for unspecified target RCS, a field of regard in azimuth of 360°, and elevation beamsteering from 0° to 65°. It is claimed to be capable of concurrently tracking more than 50 targets. The radar provides target acquisition and tracking within its coverage sector, post launch missile capture, midcourse missile tracking and command link guidance. Sources disagree on whether the radar provides terminal phase illumination for TVM endgame guidance like the 30N6E series, as the HQ-9 missile round has been also claimed to employ active terminal homing. As the basic missile round relied heavily upon the technology in the late model 5V55 and early model 48N6E missiles, the latter claim may be speculative.

An interesting claim by Sengupta is that the HT-233 employs "randomness in frequency, space and time"; if this claim is correct then the HT-233 would be a frequency hopper, employing pseudo-random angular scan algorithms. The latter may qualify the design as having a basic LPI capability, with the caveat that the 300 MHz bandwidth severely constrains achievable LPI effect1.

The HT-233 should not be underestimated, as it retains the best antenna design features seen in the 30N6E series, but is likely to evolve unique waveforms, signal and data processing, and modes as the PLA further refines this design over time. The evolution of the J-11B from the Su-27SK presents the case study.

PLAN is now having naval HQ-12..
It can give them a total 125km Anti-aircraft range and some protection from BMs..
Interesting!

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Tango Class!