The ''Abukuma''-class destroyer escort (or frigate) is the general-purpose

destroyer escort Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...

of the

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ...

. It is the successor of the earlier .

Design

This class was planned to replace the earlier and possess both ASW capability as the successor of the and

ASuW Anti-surface warfare (ASuW or ASUW) is the branch of naval warfare concerned with the suppression of surface combatants. More generally, it is any weapons, sensors, or operations intended to attack or limit the effectiveness of an adversary's s ...

capability as the successor of the ''Yūbari'' class, but there are many enhancements as follows:

Introduction of stealth technology

This class is the first combatant ship of the JMSDF with

stealth technology Stealth technology, also termed low observable technology (LO technology), is a sub-discipline of military tactics and passive and active electronic countermeasures, which covers a range of methods used to make personnel, aircraft, ships, subm ...

. Their superstructure has traditional vertical surfaces, but their hulls are angled to reduce their radar cross section.

Electronic warfare

This is the first destroyer escort class with the

Naval Tactical Data System Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS) was a computerized information processing system developed by the United States Navy in the 1950s and first deployed in the early 1960s for use in combat ships. It took reports from multiple sensors on different sh ...

and OYQ-7 combat direction system. It is also the first destroyer escort class which has ECM capability with the OLT-3 jammer.

Weapon systems

The Short Range Air Defense system comprises the OPS-14 air-search radar, the OPS-28 surface search and target acquisition radar, one

Otobreda 76 mm The OTO Melara 76 mm gun is a naval gun built and designed by the Italian defence company OTO Melara. It is based on the OTO Melara 76/62C and evolved toward 76/62 SR and 76/62 Strales. The system is compact enough to be installed on re ...

rapid-firing gun controlled by the FCS-2 fire-control system and

Phalanx CIWS The Phalanx CIWS (often spoken as "sea-wiz") is a gun-based close-in weapon system to defend military watercraft automatically against incoming threats such as aircraft, missiles, and small boats. It was designed and manufactured by the Gene ...

. The OPS-14 is the Japanese equivalent of the American

AN/SPS-49 The AN/SPS-49 is a United States Navy two-dimensional, long range air search radar built by Raytheon that can provide contact bearing and range. It is a primary air-search radar for numerous ships in the U.S. fleet and in Spain, Poland, Taiwan abo ...

radar, and the OPS-28 is the equivalent of the American TAS Mk.23.

has given the ships an improved self-defence capability against anti-ship

missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket i ...

s. Mk.31 RAM GMWS Point Defense Missile System was planned, but it is not installed yet. The ASW system comprises an OQS-8 hull-sonar (Japanese equivalent of the American DE-1167),

ASROC The RUR-5 ASROC (for "Anti-Submarine Rocket") is an all-weather, all sea-conditions anti-submarine missile system. Developed by the United States Navy in the 1950s, it was deployed in the 1960s, updated in the 1990s, and eventually installed ...

anti-submarine rocket from the Type 74 octuple launcher (Japanese license-built version of the American Mark 16 GMLS) and lightweight ASW torpedoes from two HOS-301 triple

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s. A Tactical Towed-Array Sonar System was planned but it is not installed yet. The JMSDF intended to build eleven ships of this class, but finally, only six were built because s started deploying in distinct forces. All six vessels of the class are named after World War II

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

Ships in the class

Notes

References

* ''Jane's Fighting Ships 2005-2006'' * {{Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding, state=autocollapse Frigates of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Frigate classes