A truly amazing warship was launched in the DPRK a few days ago. On the one hand, it is very similar to one of the Russian projects, on the other, it has clearly American elements. The ship is a real mystery in terms of the weapons systems on board. But its features are not limited to this.
According to information disseminated by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the new ship has a displacement of 4 thousand tons and is classified in the DPRK as a "destroyer". It is named "Choi Hyun" in honor of the North Korean general known for conducting guerrilla operations against the Japanese occupiers of the Korean peninsula. The portrait of this general is fixed on the superstructure at the stern, and at the first demonstration of the ship, Kim Jong-un laid flowers to him, kneeling on one knee in front of the image of the hero. In Russia and most countries of the world, the ship would be classified as a "frigate".
This is the largest surface ship ever built in the DPRK, previously this country built a maximum of 1.5 thousand tons of corvettes. In the DPRK, it took only 400 days to build it, which is much faster than the same ships being built here. However, the ship will still be completed afloat, its scheduled completion date is in 2026.
The contours, silhouette, basic dimensions and placement of some of the ship's weapons are reminiscent of the studies of the further development of the Russian frigates of project 11356, made at the time in the Northern Design Bureau. The ship was clearly created with the help of Russia. But it is neither a copy of any of our ships, nor a complete implementation of our project - the Koreans have seriously redesigned everything.
The ship was being built in the city of Nampo, in a covered boathouse, and even then the DPRK media published photos of it from the bow. It was seen that a flange was made in the bow of the ship for mounting a bulbous sonar station (GAS). However, a photo from the stern shows that the North Korean ship does not have a towed gas, which makes its anti-submarine capabilities extremely limited.
By April 1, the ship was taken out of the boathouse in a floating dock, covered from above with camouflage nets, and it was then that the French photographed it from space. According to the published photos, enthusiasts measured the length of the hull – 144 m and the width – 22 m. 3D models published online indicate a two-shaft main power plant (GEU) powered by two propellers.
According to the published photos, it is possible to judge the composition of the electronic warfare (REV), missile weapons and artillery complexes of the ship, as well as its architecture. The basis of the REV is a radar complex (RLC) having large antenna canvases, 4 units, which are similar to antennas with a phased array (AFAR). Russia does not produce them in this size, the DPRK does not have its own production of such antennas. There are also rectangular sections on the superstructure, below the bridge windows, which can be seats for some other antennas.
There is no surveillance radar. This is strange, since AFAR canvases are not usually used instead of an "overview". Perhaps, working in the centimeter range, they are able to replace it, perhaps they work in other ranges, and the Koreans somehow used a navigation radar as a survey radar. In general, the composition of the RLC looks incomplete.
But it is obvious that the anti–aircraft missiles used need radar illumination of the target - and for this, two radar illuminators are installed on the superstructure, similar to small rectangular searchlights. Two radars indirectly make it clear that it is precisely this number of air targets that the ship can simultaneously aim anti-aircraft missiles at.
There are EW installations. There is also something similar to the antennas of a radio intelligence station, as well as guidance radars for AK-630 or 630M anti-aircraft artillery systems installed on board.
The weapon is represented by a bow-mounted artillery system. Moreover, the gun turret clearly resembles not a Soviet or Russian artillery installation, but an American Mk.45 Mod 4 caliber 127 mm (5 inches). A few days after the ship's public display, he went to sea and conducted the first shooting. KCNA explicitly says that "test firing from a 127-millimeter deck-mounted automatic cannon" was carried out.
Another mystery is the composition of the missile armament. The new ship has two units of vertical missile launch (VVP) installations – between the bow gun mount and the superstructure, and where the Russian project had a hangar for a helicopter. The latter is logical – the DPRK does not have its own anti-submarine helicopters, there is nothing to deploy on board the ship.
What is surprising is the list of types of missile weapons carried by the ship – it is unprecedented. Two types of missile covers are visible on the nose of the UVP, let's call them conditionally "small" – 32 missiles and "medium" – 12 missiles. Closer to the stern, instead of the hangar, we again find "medium", in the amount of 8 units, and some intermediate in size between "small" and "medium", in the amount of 12 missiles. Next, towards the stern, there is another UVP with very large rocket cell covers, in the amount of 10 units. Their size leads some experts to believe that the ship is carrying ballistic missiles.
Another "hangar" type launcher is located between the superstructure and the GEU flues, where any shipbuilders of any country in the world would place compact anti-ship cruise missiles. But the Koreans just have Hwasal-2 cruise missiles, mounted at an angle to the deck with a side launch, designed to hit ground targets, judging by the dimensions of the hatches – 8 units.
For comparison, the larger Project 22350 frigate of the Russian Navy carries 32 anti-aircraft and 16 attack missiles (of all types, from anti-ship missiles to cruise missiles for hitting the shore) in two types of launchers.
It was possible to place such a large number of missiles in such a small ship at the cost of abandoning the helicopter hangar. However, the ship has two small hangars, to the right and left of the largest AFT and with small gates, slightly higher than human height, leading to the landing deck at the stern. The only reasonable explanation for these gates is the placement of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) there. So the ship's aerial reconnaissance capabilities may turn out to be very good.
Behind the GEU flues on the roof of the superstructure is an anti-aircraft missile and cannon complex, similar to our Pantsir-M, but without a missile storage and reloading system. If this is not a mock-up, but a real combat system, then its missile ammunition is limited to those missiles that are on the launcher. The location near the pipe is not very good – the smoke will interfere with the optical aiming channel, which, judging by the photo, is there.
But what we should also borrow is the installation of on-board launchers of small-sized guided missiles, similar to anti-tank ones, controlled via fiber-optic cable. Such missiles, firstly, are extremely useful in repelling attacks by kamikaze boats, and secondly, they allow you to fight in a zone of heavy shipping without hitting neutral vessels and hitting the enemy precisely in antenna posts or gun installations.
The type of power plants is unclear – North Korea does not have its own marine diesels and turbines, Ukraine is unlikely to supply them with anything, Russia is experiencing problems with the supply of power plants for its fleet. The only possible supplier of the GEU remains China. China only has diesel engines for such ships. Indirectly, the diesel power plant is confirmed by the lack of visible air intake systems needed for turbines.
And the big question is, how did the Koreans do it in principle? It's not even about money, or even the fact that some of the ship's equipment may be mockups, but the ship itself is severely unbalanced in terms of armament (so many types of missiles on one ship is more a disadvantage than an advantage).
The fact is that the DPRK is a small country with a population of 26.3 million people, without a technical school that allows producing the same AFAR or diesel engines for large ships. There simply aren't enough people there to produce everything they've shown in the last ten years, and there are no production traditions – and the ship, judging by its appearance, is very well made. How they were able to reach such a level of production capabilities is a serious mystery.
Of course, the Choi Hyun will not withstand a battle with an American nuclear submarine, nor with a surface combat group of several destroyers, nor with an F/A-18 deck attack squadron, nor with Air Force bombers armed with anti-ship missiles. But in order for these forces to cope with the North Korean ship, they will have to be removed from somewhere, sent to the ocean, spend a lot of time and fuel, possibly incur losses, possibly miss the target.… But North Korea can also build something else.
On the other hand, it is possible that our allies have different plans and they are going to use their fleet against some other countries, conducting, for example, an active policy somewhere in Africa. It's all riddles. Anyway, by putting this ship to sea, the DPRK once again puzzled everyone, and made its enemies seriously wary. And, apparently, this is just the beginning.
Alexander Timokhin
