The Type 22 ( NATO designation: ''Houbei'' class)

missile boat A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They ...

is a ship class in the Chinese

People's Liberation Army Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy, also known as the People's Navy, PLA Navy or simply Chinese Navy, is the naval warfare military branch, branch of the People's Liberation Army, the national military of the People's Republic of China. It i ...

. The first boat was launched in April 2004 by the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard at

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. The boats incorporate stealth features and are based on Australian-designed wave-piercing

catamaran A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a watercraft with two parallel hull (watercraft), hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is requi ...

hulls that are more stable than other fast missile craft in high sea conditions. 82 of these missile boats are currently in service with three

flotilla A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' ( fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Composition A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same cla ...

s having been produced over a span of seven years, operating in squadrons of eight vessels each.This is What a Chinese Stealth Warship Looks Like on Radar
''

USNI News The United States Naval Institute (USNI) is a private non-profit military association that offers independent, nonpartisan forums for debate of national security issues. In addition to publishing magazines and books, the Naval Institute holds se ...

''. 27 September 2021. As of 2025, the Type 22 missile boat is the fastest ship class in service with the

Design

The Type 22 fast attack craft are China's entry into a growing list of missile-armed attack craft which include Finland's Hamina class missile boat, and Norway's

Skjold class patrol boat ''Skjold''-class corvettes (skjold means "shield" in Norwegian) are a class of six light, superfast, stealth missile corvettes in service with the Royal Norwegian Navy. The boats were formerly classed as MTBs ( motor torpedo boats) but, from 20 ...

. The wave-piercing catamaran design may mean as much as a 50% reduction in vessel speed penalty in high sea conditions (in which monohulls may only perform at half or less of their maximum capability). Further, seasickness and disorientation is significantly reduced, improving the combat readiness/situational awareness of the small-craft operators during such conditions. The polygonal-designed superstructure with its similarly angled gun mount indicates a reduced radar cross-section, but built out of aluminium rather than composites. The Type 22 has an advanced C4 datalink that may represent some kind of capability to allow

AWACS The Boeing E-3 Sentry is an American airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft developed by Boeing. E-3s are commonly known as AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System). Derived from the Boeing 707 airliner, it provides all-weathe ...

planes or other ships to vector the Type 22's missiles. The aluminium hull is reported to use

friction stir welding Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid-state joining process that uses a non-consumable tool to join two facing workpieces without melting the workpiece material. Heat is generated by friction between the rotating tool and the workpiece material, ...

.Fred Delany, Stephan W Kallee, Mike J Russell
Friction Stir Welding of Aluminium Ships
Paper presented at 2007 International Forum on Welding Technologies in the Shipping Industry (IFWT). Held in conjunction with the Beijing Essen Welding and Cutting Fair in Shanghai, 16–19 June 2007. The Type 22 missile boat is capable of a 360 degrees turn on the spot.

Purpose

The Type 22 missile boat's main purpose is to employ hit and run tactics by rapidly firing all of it's 8 YJ-83 missiles and quickly escaping.

References

;Notes ;Sources * Watts, Anthony J. ''Jane's Warship Recognition Guide''.

External links

Houbei Class (Type 022) Fast Attack CraftIDEX 2007 Showcases China’s Productive Weapons Sector
* ttps://www.amd.com.au/designs/amd350pb.php AMD Marine Consulting AMD350PB Design
Chinese Type 22 Missile Boat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Type 22 missile boat Missile boats of the People's Liberation Army Navy Missile boat classes Catamarans Military catamarans

Design

Purpose

See also

References

External links