Integrating anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles for Pohang ship?
The 20-class Pohang frigate that South Korea has just transferred will have superior power if it is integrated with anti-aircraft missiles and anti-ship missiles.
Based on the image of Ship 20 when it appeared at the international naval parade in Jeju, South Korea, its weaponry is still intact with 2 Oto Melara Compact 76.2 mm guns and 2 Otobreda 40 mm anti-aircraft guns arranged front and rear, accompanied by 2 Mk 32 launcher clusters of 324 mm anti-submarine torpedoes.
Although South Korea introduced Ship 20 as a multi-purpose escort, it is easy to see that in addition to its fairly good anti-submarine capabilities, its anti-ship and especially air defense capabilities still have many major gaps when missiles are not installed.
When returning to Vietnam, in the current situation, we really need more multi-purpose warships that can perform well in both air defense, anti-ship and anti-submarine functions. Combined with the large displacement of Pohang, adding features to it is very necessary.
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| The 20-class Pohang anti-submarine frigate, formerly the Yeosu (PCC-765), at the international naval parade |
The first issue is upgrading the air defense capabilities of the Pohang. Although equipped with two 40 mm Otobreda guns, this weapon is considered to have a slow rate of fire, facing many limitations when dealing with low-flying targets such as anti-ship missiles.
Currently, Vietnam has produced 30mm ammunition for the AK-630 rapid-fire gun, while the source of 40mm ammunition for the Otobreda gun has not been determined yet. Therefore, one possible option is to replace this CIWS complex in the position of the 2 Otobreda guns above, along with that will be the MR-123 Vympel fire control radar installed on the roof of the cabin to guide the fire.
The next and seemingly better option is to completely replace the Otobreda gun cluster with the Palma anti-aircraft missile-gun module because their sizes are quite similar.
In addition to having 8 more 9M311 Sosna-R missiles, the Palma module is capable of independent combat, so the space in the command chamber will be used for another weapon.
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| The potential for upgrading the Pohang's weapons to make it more powerful overall is huge. |
If we choose to install the Palma module in the position of the Otobreda gun in front, we do not need to equip another set of this complex in the space behind, but that place will be used to install 2 KT-184 launcher clusters of the Kh-35 Uran-E anti-ship cruise missile.
To guide the Uran-E missile, it will be necessary to install the Garpun-Bal fire control radar, which can be placed on the roof of the command cabin, which is currently empty.
With the above upgrade plan, Ship 20 can be said to have "transformed" and become a multi-purpose frigate with power almost equivalent to Gepard 3.9, this will be a very valuable addition to the surface fleet of the Vietnam People's Navy.
