Yuan Wang 8 tracking ship
According to satellite images released November 21, 2023 by the US Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a brand new ship has been launched and outfitted at the Jiangnan Shipyard in Changxing Island, China. From the appearance, its bow part looks like a compressed version of 055. The large superstructure has a typical four-sided phased array layout. However, unlike ordinary shield ships, this ship has almost no large weapons and various large radars.
Yuanwang means "Long View" or "Far Hope". The Chinese refer to the fleet as "maritime aerospace survey vessels" carrying "transoceanic aerospace observation and control technology." Each ship has an impressive array of dishes and scanners. By 2019, the fleet of Yuanwang includes four measuring vessels, Yuanwang No.3, Yuanwang No.5, Yuanwang No.6 and Yuanwang No.7.
Space Survey Ship main mission is to track and telemetry various medium and long-range missiles, satellites and spacecraft, accurately determine its landing points, recover warhead cones, satellite instrument data cabins and spacecraft cockpits. The space measurement vessel has a large range of activities and a long working time, so the tonnage is relatively large.
Relying on major projects to cultivate scientific and technological teams and talents is an important model for the 708th Institute to cultivate talents. The "718 Project" gave birth to the "Yuanwang Spirit", which in turn cultivated a group of teams and talents who care about the motherland, devote themselves to national defense, and engage in the research and design of aerospace survey ships. There is an endless stream of thoughtful people and a continuous stream of ingenious craftsmen. Generations of ship science and technology talents have grown up in the development process of the "Yuanwang" series of ships.
The "Yuanwang" survey ship needs to be equipped with a large number of high-precision measurement and control, communication, and meteorological equipment. All the measurement and control equipment arranged in dozens of square kilometers of the satellite launch base must be moved to a ship of less than 4,000 square meters. Not only must the electromagnetic compatibility between the instruments be resolved, but also the problem of installing land-based equipment on the ship must be resolved. Faced with the challenge, the research and development design team of the 708th Institute, with loyalty to the motherland and love for national defense scientific research, devoted themselves to the research and design of the aerospace survey ship.
As a member unit of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, the 708th Institute has condensed the "Yuanwang Spirit" of "caring for the motherland, dedicating oneself to military industry; advocating science, pursuing excellence; not fearing difficulties, daring to fight; daring to innovate, and constantly making progress" during the research and development of the "Yuanwang" ship, which has become an important part of the "China Shipbuilding Spirit".
As Hu Wenming, Secretary of the Party Committee of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, said, the core values ??of the "Yuanwang Spirit" are the words "motherland" and "military industry". To inherit and carry forward the "Yuanwang Spirit", we must take the spirit of hard work, innovation and enterprising spirit as the carrier of the "Yuanwang Spirit" and constantly pursue excellence.
Jiangnan General Administration set the trend of the times; "Yuanwang Spirit" embodies the spirit of scientific truth-seeking, rigorous excellence. Seeking truth is the scientific attitude of studying things to gain knowledge. In order to solve the problem of ship stability, the designers of the 708th Institute implemented a triple insurance plan with three-level stability measures; to solve the problem of electromagnetic compatibility, the designers scientifically divided the antenna working area on the "Yuanwang" ship and took shielding measures to effectively suppress coupling interference and cable conduction interference; in order to correctly evaluate and correct the impact of hull deformation on measurement and control equipment, the designers pioneered the use of optical flexural deformation measurement method; in order to solve the navigation and positioning problems of ships and measurement equipment, inertial navigation, astronomical navigation and other means were adopted to ensure real-time, accurate and reliable positioning at sea. These design ideas and technical solutions laid the foundation for the design of the three generations of "Yuanwang" ships spanning 40 years,
Domestic warships have ushered in the end of another year, and many military fans are also very concerned about which other warships will be "dumplings" before the end of this year? In addition to the Fujian ship moving its berth again to prepare for sea trials, the 052D was launched as the 30th ship in total. Jiangnan Shipyard also unveiled three ships at the same time, including the "Yuanwang 8". This ship not only has a tonnage of 30,000 tons, It even pioneered the use of all-electric propulsion. According to satellite images released by the US Center for Strategic and International Studies, a brand new ship has been launched and outfitted at the Jiangnan Shipyard in Changxing Island, China. From the appearance, its bow part looks like a compressed version of the 055 large drive, with typical four-sided phased array layout. However, unlike ordinary tracking ships, this ship initially had no large radars.
The official account of the 708th Research Institute of China State Shipbuilding Corporation announced that a new ship designed by the institute recently held a slipway ceremony, kicking off the segmented construction and continuous loading of the ship. It can be seen from the description of the 708th Institute that the ship will undertake dual missions of scientific research and ocean exploration, and can enhance China's maritime information support and ocean exploration capabilities. What is particularly noteworthy is that during the development process of the ship, the project team was mentioned to promote the "far-seeing spirit".
the word "Yuanwang" has a special meaning, which represents special operation ships related to the aerospace field. Thinking about it this way, this new ship developed by the 708th Research Institute to promote the "Yuanwang Spirit" should be the latest in China's "Yuanwang" series of ships, that is, the 10th "Yuanwang" ship.
There are currently 9 ships in the "Yuanwang" series, including 7 aerospace survey ships from "Yuanwang 1" to "Yuanwang 7", as well as "Yuanwang 21" and "Yuanwang 22" "These two rocket carrier ships. Considering that the 708th Research Institute mentioned that the ship will undertake scientific research missions and improve maritime information support capabilities, it may not be a rocket carrier ship with a relatively single function, but a new aerospace survey ship, which will most likely be It was named "Yuanwang 8".
The institute mentioned in another previous report that this new ship, which promoted the "Yuanwang spirit" during the development process, adopted an integrated power system and used a large number of new technologies and equipment. Judging from this statement, the ship is likely to use all-electric propulsion technology that represents the future development direction of ship power . In this regard, the British Royal Navy's "Queen Elizabeth" class aircraft carrier and Type 45 destroyer took the lead in using all-electric propulsion, and some other countries are also vigorously researching on this track.
Different from traditional power and transmission technology, all-electric propulsion refers to an engine driving a generator to generate electricity, and the electricity is directly transmitted to the electric motor to perform work and generate power, thereby propelling the ship to sail. All-electric propulsion technology has many advantages, such as eliminating many drive shafts and gears, which can improve power utilization and save the internal space and weight of the ship, as well as provide faster acceleration and deceleration for the ship, and better maneuverability. . Because of this, it can become a major development trend.
It should also be noted that, as an aerospace survey ship densely packed with electronic equipment, its demand for power is very huge. As a result, the integrated power system must not only drive the ship forward, but also ensure the normal operation of various electronic devices that consume a lot of power. The requirements for power generation must be quite stringent. Since China dares to use integrated power systems on such special ships, it obviously shows that the domestic technology accumulation and development level in this field is already quite high.
Many military observers speculate that this may be the latest "Yuanwang 8" in the previously revealed "Yuanwang" series. In addition, there is a large ship with a completed hull behind the Yuanwang ship. This may be a 055 large-scale drive under construction, and there should be another hull under construction in the indoor slipway in front. Judging from the length, This should also be the 055 drive. This also makes the number of the second batch of 055 cruise ships confusing. Is it another dumpling of 8 ships? It seems that 055 has not stopped at all. Of course, it will still be some time before the two 055s are launched into the water, while the Yuanwang 8 is faster and has already entered the outfitting stage.
Yuanwang 8 was discovered on the slipway in July 2023. It was designed by the China Shipbuilding Industry Research Institute. Its full name should be the space ocean survey ship and launch vehicle transport ship. Now Yuanwang 1, 2 and 4 The survey ships have been retired, No. 21 and 22 are transport ships, and Yuanwang 8 will be the latest survey ship in the series. Through comparison, it is not difficult to see that the design style of No. 8 is very different from other ships in the series, which also shows that the ship utilizes many new technologies. According to information released by the 708 Research Institute in July 2023, the ship uses an integrated power system and has a tonnage of at least 30,000 tons or more.
In general, the construction progress of domestically produced warships is accelerating. In addition to the well-known 052D and 055 large-scale drives, there are also new ships such as the "Yuanwang 8" that are being launched one after another. In the future, these ships will become an important force of the Chinese Navy and further demonstrate the strength of the Chinese Navy. The 30,000-ton integrated power system ship has become a pioneer in the development of Chinese ships. Recently, a 30,000-ton ship of the Chinese Navy successfully adopted an integrated power system. This is considered to be the first time in China that an all-electric system has been used for large ships above the 10,000-ton level. A bold attempt. This move may play an important role in promoting the development of the future 10,000-ton 055B large destroyer ship. In comparison, the technical improvements of the USS Howard Lorenzen, a similar type of missile observation ship in the United States, cannot be ignored.
It is understood that the "Howard Lorenzen" is equipped with a dual-band X-band and S-band shipborne radar system known as the "Judy Cobra II". The phased array antenna of this system has an area of ??9 × 13 meters, a weight of nearly 300 tons, and is equipped with 38 sets of communication antennas, which can remotely measure various data at any time and send it back to the ground center station synchronously. This also explains why the bow part of the Chinese Navy's Yuanwang 8 is relatively short. This is to leave enough space in the middle and rear of the hull to accommodate various large equipment. Some people speculate that Yuanwang 8 may use a dual-band radar similar to the 055 large-scale drive, but the antenna area may be larger, even exceeding the US's "Howard Lorenzen".
Of course, in terms of quantity, the United States has 29 various survey ships, and China's Yuanwang series still has a lot of room for expansion in this regard. Overall, the development of Chinese naval vessels is encouraging. Although it is approaching the end of the year, the ship launching ceremony on Changxing Island still brought us surprises. Next year, China is expected to launch more 055 large-scale cruisers and 052D destroyers, and the numbers may reach more than 33 and 11 respectively. It can be said that the development of Chinese warships has entered a normalized stage. In the absence of new ships for the time being, future development may focus mainly on the expansion of the number of ships and small technical improvements.
Reviewing the main content of this article, it can be seen that the Chinese Navy has made important breakthroughs in ship development, especially in the application of integrated power systems. This move is not only a pioneer in using all-electric systems for large ships above 10,000 tons, but also provides valuable experience for the development of future 055B large destroyers. At the same time, through the observation of the USS "Howard Lorenzen", we can see the continuous innovation and improvement of related technologies. This will provide more reference and inspiration for China's ship research and development. However, we should also see some challenges in the development of Chinese ships. Although China has made great progress, compared with developed countries such as the United States, there is still a certain gap in China's technology and equipment in the field of ships.
Therefore, China needed to continue to increase investment in scientific research, strengthen innovation capabilities, and improve the level of independent research and development in order to gain greater advantages in the global ship competition. In short, the Chinese Navy is taking solid steps in ship development. The application of integrated power systems is an important attempt and provides new ideas and directions for future ship development.
It is 225 meters [740 feet] in length, 27.2 meters in breadth, and displaces more than 30,000 tons. The overall displacement of the domestically produced "Yuanwang" series of aerospace survey ships has continued to increase, from the early 10,000 to 20,000 tons to the current full-load displacement of "Yuanwang 7" of about 27,000 tons, with increasingly stronger self-sustainability and ocean navigation capabilities. The new aerospace survey ship suspected to be "Yuanwang 8" may be no less than the existing "Yuanwang 7" in terms of tonnage, and may even be larger, reaching a new level of 30,000 tons. Is the use of integrated power systems on behemoths of tens of thousands of tons also preparing for the use of this technology on front-line main warships in the future ? Maybe China's next generation of domestically produced aircraft carriers will use advanced all-electric propulsion devices?
By April 2024 the outfitting of Yuanwang 8 is almost complete. Its hull features a slender hull and a strong ability to sail for a long time at sea. From the bow to the middle of the hull, it is covered with multiple large and small circular radar covers. This is also one of the characteristics of the Yuanwang series, with high-power radar and satellite communication systems. Of course, the most noteworthy thing is the two huge phased array radars at the rear of the hull. It can be seen that its size is several times that of ordinary phased arrays. The number of T/R units used and the power are so large that it not only far exceeds the previous Yuanwang, but also has a very obvious advantage compared to similar Western ships.
From the perspective of tonnage, Yuanwang 5 is already 30,000 tons, and with the addition of two giant phased arrays, it is possible that the tonnage is 40,000 tons or even more. Although it is only 40,000 tons, it can be put together with an aircraft carrier, which shows that this is not an ordinary ship. In particular, two recent events, one is the establishment of a separate military aerospace force, and the other is the announcement of a manned lunar landing project before 2030, which makes the appearance of Yuanwang 8 even more important. After all, the maritime tracking and control missions of various spacecraft such as rockets, satellites, and spacecraft all depend on it. The number of ships of this type in the world can be counted on one hand.
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