Russia & China Building Littoral Warships

Chinese Type 022(click to view full) As the USA proceeds with its Littoral Combat Ship program, other nations are building less versatile and less expensive craft for littoral warfare and patrol roles. In addition to Sweden’s famed Visby Class corvettes (recently upgraded to a “Visby Plus” configuration – see PDF) and Norway’s smaller Skjold (Shield) Class air cushion catamarans, DID reader Lee Wahler notes that the Russians are introducing a new corvette class that could compete with the LCS for export dollars. Meanwhile, the Chinese are introducing advanced wave-piercing catamaran designs into their own littoral fleet. While the Chinese ships are not peer competitors to the USA’s Littoral Combat Ships, they could be key opponents in a future Taiwan Straits scenario. The Russian Project 2038.0 Corvettes, on the other hand, could provide serious export competition for nations with lower budgets, or impaired access to advanced US technologies. Project 2038 model(click to view full) GlobalSecurity.org adds valuable background by noting that on July 24, 2004, RIA Novosti quoted Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Kuroyedov as saying that “The firstborn of our surface shipbuilding is the corvette – a new multifunctional littoral combat ship, which combines qualities of anti-submarine ships and missile carriers.” […]