In May, the Taiwanese Navy signed a contract with Jong Shyn Shipbuilding Group to build the first batch of 2 prototype ships of the 12 Light Frigates. At that time, the original specification of the Light Frigate would be around 2,500 tons and split into two versions, an anti-air warfare (AAW) version and an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) version.
This role-oriented approach avoids the need of integrating all mission systems and equipment together. Both versions would have common equipment like the ARTISAN (Advanced Radar Target Indication Situational Awareness and Navigation), 76mm STRALES naval gun with DART (Driven Ammunition Reduced Time of flight) shells, CMS-330 Combat Management System, Sea Oryx Short Range AAW Missile System…
Increase size and displacement
The only two major differences between the AAW version and ASW version would be a different number of TC-2N Medium Range AAW Missiles and Anti-ship Missiles they carry (AAW version has 32 TC-2N VLS cells and 8 Anti-ship Missiles, while the ASW version only has 2 TC-2N side launchers with 8 cells and up to 16 Anti-ship Missiles) as well as the lack of ASW equipment onboard the AAW version. Although this approach can reduce overall development risk, there were concerns within the Navy about the overall size and displacement of the frigate, which may be too small to accommodate all the necessary planned equipment.
In the past, due to over-confidence, the Tuo Chiang-class domestic corvette encountered the same size and displacement issue. The size of the prototype ship of the Tuo Chiang-class was 60 meters long and 14 meters wide; however, the design of the prototype ship was heavily criticized with a design flaw of insufficient buoyancy. She only carries about half of the anti-ship missiles originally planned under normal operational patrol missions. To overcome this problem, the Taiwanese Navy was forced to expand the size of the follow-on Tuo Chiang-class production ships to 65 meters long and 14.8 meters wide. The fully loaded displacement was also increased from 502 tons to 685 tons, far heavier than the prototype ship.
With this past painful lesson in mind, the Taiwanese Navy in July decided to expand the size of the Light Frigate from the original design of under 110 meters to 120 meters long. The displacement increased from 2,500 tons to around 3,000 tons. The increased size would generate more space margins between the 76mm main gun, VLS and Anti-ship Missile Launchers as well as contributing an expanded flight deck size for the S-70C ASW helicopter flight ops.
Sonar system
All the primary weapon and mission systems except for the sonar system have already been selected. Up to three manufacturers are interested in participating in this program. Known rumored contenders include L3 Harris and Thales (likely CAPTAS-2). According to the Taiwanese Navy, the revised design should be able to accommodate all contenders systems. The selection should take place around September.
As mentioned in our previous story, due to the relatively light tonnage of the Light Frigate, the thought of installing a Hull-mounted Sonar on the ship was abandoned from the start of the problem; however, as the displacement increases, the overall design becomes more flexible. Although the prototype ASW ship will only have Towed Sonar Array like the original design, the follow-on production ships might include a Hull-mounted Sonar in the future incremental capability upgrade.
