The ''Hayabusa'' class is a guided missile

patrol boat A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and the ...

class 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) ...

. Six boats were built between 2002 and 2004. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force initially built three hydrofoil missile boats of the PG 1-go class between 1993 and 1995. The ''Hayabusa'' class was designed to correct the issues that arose with the preceding class. After an incident off the

Noto Peninsula The Noto Peninsula (能登半島, ''Noto-hantō'') is a peninsula that projects north into the Sea of Japan from the coast of Ishikawa Prefecture in central Honshū, the main island of Japan. The main industries of the peninsula are agricultur ...

involving a

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

spy ship A spy ship or reconnaissance vessel is a dedicated ship intended to gather intelligence, usually by means of sophisticated electronic eavesdropping. In a wider sense, any ship intended to gather information could be considered a spy ship. Spy ...

, two ships of the class were included in the 1999 fiscal year plan.

Outline

Hull

The boat's displacement was enlarged to four times that of the PG 1-go class to improve seaworthiness. The maximum speed was increased to improve the ability to intercept ships; however, the speed increase proved to be difficult to implement. Both double-hull and single-hull designs were considered; the single-hull design was selected for reasons of hull strength and seaworthiness. The hull is long and narrow with a V-shaped bottom, allowing for a high hull speed and improved high-speed stability. Stealth characteristics were incorporated. The slope of the superstructure, designed to minimize direct radar reflection, was chosen using computer simulation of the radar cross section. The tripod mast and 76 mm gun also have stealth features.

Propulsion

Three LM500-G07

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directio ...

engines, built under license from

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

by Ishikawajima-Harima, provide the main propulsion.

Armament

The main armament is a pair of SSM-1B ship-to-ship missile twin launchers installed in the stern and an Otobreda 76 mm gun on the front deck. Additionally, two 12.7 mm M2 machine guns are installed on the back of the bridge. The weapons systems for the ''Hayabusa'' class is controlled by the OYQ-8B Tactical Data Processing System. It uses a smaller AN/UYK-44 computer but is vastly superior to the previous generation

AN/UYK-20 The AN/UYK-20 "Data Processing Set" was a ruggedized small computer manufactured by Univac and used by the United States Navy for small and medium-sized shipboard and shore systems built in the 1970s. It featured non-volatile magnetic core memory ...

. Also it is capable of supporting Link 11 data link, which the previous OYQ-5 and UYK-20 system was not able to. As a result, it is now able to provide supporting data to other ships and aircraft. This enhances offensive and defensive capability as they can now feed data into the larger Maritime Operation Force System of the Self Defense Forces.

List of ships

References

External links

Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World entry

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayabusa Class Patrol Boat Missile boat classes Patrol vessels of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Ships built in Japan