2500-ton light frigate
On 17 November 2023, the first steel plate cutting ceremony for the first light frigate air defense type was held at Kaohsiung CITIC. The original "new generation missile frigate" project was modified to "new generation light frigate" in accordance with Chapter 2, Section 4, Article 2, Paragraph 4 of the "National Military Military Investment and Construction Project Operation Regulations".
The Ministry of National Defense considers that most of the existing destroyers and frigates are more than 20 years old, so it has invested more than 24.5 billion yuan in budget from 2019 to 2026 to implement the "Zhenhai Project" to develop a new generation of patrol ships. The prototype of the ship has been delayed for some reason. In order to make up for the gap in combat capability, the Ministry of National Defense has revised the ship specifications of the "Zhenhai Project" and will use the original budget to produce two "light frigates", which are expected to be completed before 2026. Although the military did not explicitly state the displacement in the budget document, it is understood that the ship in this project will be revised down from 4,500 tons to 2,000 to 2,500 tons, and from "first-class ship" to "second-class ship." The captain's rank may also be reduced from colonel to lieutenant colonel.
Faced with China’s military intimidation, by 2022 the Ministry of National Defense mapped out ways to quickly increase its combat capabilities. In addition to changing the new generation missile frigate with a displacement of 4,500 tons to a 2,000-ton light frigate.
On October 5, 2022, Executive Yuan Su Zhenchang and cabinet members went to the Legislative Yuan to report on the "General Budget of the Central Government for the 112 Years of the Republic of China" and other matters, including items in the national defense budget for the 112 Years of the Republic of China. During the proceedings of the National Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee of the Legislative Yuan, Kuomintang legislator Ma Wenjun questioned that the "budget for a new generation of missile frigates" was originally approved and approved by the Legislative Yuan, but the Navy has now changed the content of the plan on its own; the Legislative Yuan is not the Ministry of National Defense's Planning Bureau, " Congress has reviewed and approved the case, and the Ministry of National Defense cannot change it whenever it wants."
According to reports, the military considered the increasingly severe threat of enemy situations. Even though the "Tuojiang-class" patrol ships with sufficient firepower have been quickly put into production and can effectively deny enemy invasion in wartime, in peacetime or in a "grey zone conflict" environment , with its displacement of 700 tons, it is really difficult to monitor the larger tonnage of the Chinese Communist warship. Therefore, in addition to adjusting the configuration of the 4,500-ton frigate, the military has prioritized the mass production of light frigates that can be put into reconnaissance and patrol missions in the Taiwan Strait in time and can be used as "work horses". It still hopes that the acquisition of new first-class ships will be completed. continue.
Military expert Mei Fuxing revealed 03 December 2021 that the military was considering building 8 patrol ships/light frigates (corvette/light frigates) ranging from 2000 to 2500 tons in order to form immediate combat power as soon as possible to respond to the threat window of 2027. The concept of a 1,200-ton light frigate was announced by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2019. Now the military is considering to build 8 corvette/light frigates of 2000 to 2500 tons in advance to form immediate combat power as soon as possible to respond to the threat window of 2027.
Military expert Mei Fuxing pointed out that the change in this case was not led by the navy, but was suggested by a current advisory committee member of the National Security Council who had served in the military. The peak approves and agrees, and the ruling is executed first. The first ship will start construction in 2023 to catch up with the aforementioned schedule. Mei Fuxing, who has been observing Taiwan-US military cooperation for a long time, said that the domestic shipbuilding industry has recently begun to circulate that the Navy is considering revising the order and configuration of the new generation of frigates, and temporarily shelving frigates (designed for the 4500-ton class originally planned), and modify the design configuration. At the same time, eight patrol ships/light frigates (corvette/light frigate) ranging from 2000 to 2500 tons were built in advance to form immediate combat power as soon as possible to respond to the threat window of 2027.
These frigates are designed by US naval design firm Gibbs & Cox, who also worked on the Arleigh Burke class, and may have taken some inspiration from the Constellation class (albeit in a much smaller form). G&C has also proposed a slightly larger variant of this design to the Australian Navy as a tier 2 combatant.
At the Indo-Pacific 2023 defense exhibition held in Sydney in November 2023, the American Gibbs.Cox Company displayed the Australian light frigate (AUSLF); this is a derivative based on the light frigate that the company started earlier and designed for the Taiwan Navy. The light frigate designed by Gibbs & Cox for Taiwan is equipped with a naval gun and two sets of eight-cell MK-41 vertical launchers on the bow, and the AUSLF abandoned the naval guns and made room to install another two sets of eight-unit MK-41 vertical launchers, bringing the total to 32.
The project was initially for ships of the 1500-2500 ton range, but that was increased to 2500-3000 tons due to lessons learned from the Tuo Chaing class corvettes, where the first ship saw deficiencies that had to be corrected with an according increase in displacement from 567 to 732 tons.
There are to be two variants, one ASW, and one AAW, with the AAW variant having started construction in November 2023 and the ASW variant having started in January. Delivery to the ROCN is projected to be October 2026. A total of ten to 15 of these ships are being considered, to modernize the fleet and replace the six aging ex-USN Knox-class frigates Taiwan has, which are already approaching 50 years old.
The ship is intended to be 115m [377 feet] in length, 15m in beam, and displace 2500-3000 tons, with a top speed of 30 knots utilizing a CODLOG propulsion system primarily driven by a GE LM2500 gas turbine on two shafts. Armament varies between the two variants, with both having a 76mm Super Rapid gun with the Strales system and DART ammunition, angled launchers for up to 16 HF-2 or HF-3 AShMs, or TC-2N anti-air missiles, a Phalanx CIWS, and two RWS. The AAW variant adds either an 8- or 16-cell VLS based on the Huayang program, which will likely support either quad-packed TC-2N, or TK-3N missiles. The VLS may be based off of lessons learned when testing the Mk-48 VLS. The ASW variant adds two Mk-32 triple torpedo launchers.
In terms of sensors, the frigates are equipped with a 3D air search radar, which may be the BAe Artisan, Hensoldt TRS-4D or some other radar. The ASW variant also includes a towed-array sonar, likely the Thales CAPTAS-1. Despite it being shown in the renders, the frigate does not seem to have a hangar, but it does have a flight deck capable of supporting an S-70C(M) ASW helicopter.
By November 2023, the air defense prototype had one 8 cell VLS (32 TC-2N). The previously leaked 3D drawing is the same one used at the ceremony. Upmedia only blurred the VLS cells.
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