The ''Tondar'' class (, also known as ''Houdong'' class) consists of ten fast attack crafts operated by

Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN; ; officially abbreviated in Persian as NEDSA and also known as the Sepah Navy) is the Navy, naval warfare Military branch, service of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps founded in 1985, and o ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

History

The negotiations to sign a contract for the vessels started in 1991, but was delayed for some time over the type of missiles installed on the ships. The ships were manufactured at Zhanjiang Shipyard, China and were delivered to Iran in two batches, the first five in September 1994 and the remaining in March 1996.

Design

Dimensions and machinery

The ships have a standard displacement of and at

full load The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into weig ...

. The class design is long, would have a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

of and would have used three propeller shafts, powered by three diesel engines. This system was designed to provide for a top speed of .

Armament

According to the 2020 edition of "The Military Balance" published by the

IISS The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is an international research institute or think tank focusing on defence and security issues. Since 1997, its headquarters have been at Arundel House in London. It has offices on four co ...

, the ships are equipped with two twin launchers that fire Iranian-made

AShM An anti-ship missile (AShM or ASM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea-skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. ...

, '' Ghader''. 2015–16 version of ''

Jane's Fighting Ships ''Janes Fighting Ships'' is an annual reference book of each country's warship, navy and coast guard, along with their weapons and aircraft. Included are ship names, construction data, size, speed, range, complement, engineering, armament, a ...

'' however, had reported that the ships carry four '' Noor'' missiles. The missiles rely on

active radar homing Active radar homing (ARH) is a missile guidance method in which a missile contains a radar transceiver (in contrast to semi-active radar homing, which uses only a passive radar, receiver) and the electronics necessary for it to find and track it ...

to at 0.9 Mach. The

close-in weapon system A close-in weapon system (CIWS ) is a point-defense weapon system for detecting and destroying short-range incoming missiles and enemy aircraft which have penetrated the outer defenses, typically mounted on a naval ship. Nearly all classes of l ...

on the ships consists of two 30mm/65 twin

AK-230 The AK-230 is a Soviet radar-controlled 30mm naval anti-aircraft autocannon. It is mounted in an enclosed automatic turret and directed by radar. The AK-230 is widely used, mounted on large warships as well as small craft. About 1450 guns were p ...

guns, while the secondary armament is two 23mm/87 twin guns.

Sensors and processing systems

''Tondar''-class vessels use Chinese SR-47A

surface search radar A surface-search radar, sometimes more accurately known as a sea-surface-search radar or naval surveillance radar, is a type of military radar intended primarily to locate objects on the surface of lakes and oceans. Part of almost every modern naval ...

and RM 1070-A navigation system, both working on

I-band The NATO I band is the obsolete designation given to the radio frequencies from 8,000 to 10,000 MHz (equivalent to wavelengths between 3.75 and 3 cm) during the Cold War period. Since 1992, frequency allocations, allotment and assignment ...

. For fire control, they use Type 341 Radar (also known as Rice Lamp) on I/J-band.

Ships in the class

The ships in the class which were renamed in 2006, are:

References

{{Fast attack crafts of Iran Missile boat classes Ship classes of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps China–Iran military relations