10 best missile boats in the world

Fast attack craft (missile), in my opinion:

1.


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8.


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10.

Are you sure about the picture #10, that Iran "china cat" boat being one of the world's top ten boat?

A thread about FACs and you forget to mention the Israeli Saar series? Shame on you....


Serisouly though, Saar 4.5:

Displacement: ~490 tonnes fully loaded
Top Speed: 33 knots
Dimensions: Overall length 61.7m Maximum beam 7.62m Full load mean draft 2.80m
Targeting Radar: Self detection and missile guidance (Neptune radar?)
Weapons:
8 Harpoons,
6 Gabriels,
1 Palanx gun,
1 76mm Rapid
32 Baraks, (Mabye? How they put so much munitions on such a small ship is beyond me)


That being said, personally I think the Israelis must have a huge problem with the top load.....judge for yourself.

The Skjold, Visby and Bora, being called corvettes due to political reasons, would probrably be deployed in the same ways as a Corvette.......

The CAT Facs really should not be on that list......their light weaponary and lack of long range surface scanning radar really limits their weapon range to within visual range.....

Saar 4.5. Looks impressive on paper but as you say, poor sea keeping.

Originally posted by warset
Are you sure about the picture #10, that Iran "china cat" boat being one of the world's top ten boat?

In design terms, yep. I'd credit China for that though. There have been several attempts at extremely small missile boats - the Israeli Dabor being an obvious example.

There have also been several attempts along the Hydrofoil theme - the Israeli Zivant and Italian Nibbio are good examples, though the Japanese PG 1-go seems to be the only successful design along these lines to still be in service (politics rather than capability killed off the Nibbios).

But China Cat has an edge - it's smaller and carries 4~8 SSMs. Admittedly the C-701 is short ranged (20km) but in Littorial situations it seems ideal. And at 50kts the China Cat is damn fast. So what it loses in terms of endurance, weapons reach and sensors, it makes up for in size-punch ratio. IMO.

[edit on 30-9-2006 by planeman]

planesman :

if you have not already done so , i might suggert you review the book worlds worst warships . it has a chapter dedicated to missile boats in general -- and thier failings .

missile boats do have thier uses -- but they also have fatal flaws , and are certainly not the " ein uber alles " rulers of the oceans some folks would have us believe .

Originally posted by ignorant_ape
planesman :

if you have not already done so , i might suggert you review the book worlds worst warships . it has a chapter dedicated to missile boats in general -- and thier failings .

missile boats do have thier uses -- but they also have fatal flaws , and are certainly not the " ein uber alles " rulers of the oceans some folks would have us believe .

I haven't ever heard of that book, and as my username suggests, I don't see myself as anywhere near knowledgable on naval matters. But looking at current developments from a military technology viewpoint, I think that the analysis in that book is probably getting outdated - contemporary developments in data-links, missile potency, stealth and crew automation make missile boats an ever more tempting design route for optimum bang for bucks.

Relevant developments as I see them:

1. The 'traditional' shortcomings of air defence are increasingly being overcome by ever more compact and automated air defence systems. Several missile boats already deploy RAM, Umkhonto or other SAMs. With the development of lasers as weapons the potential to better defend these small craft from air attack will get ever greater.

2. Developments in network-centric warfare are increasingly mitigating the need for on-board primary (/long ranged) sensors for targeting - note how Chinese type-022s have data link antena.

3. It will always be easier to make a small boat stealthier than a big boat. The Scandinavian route of composites allows for an incredibly 'clean' structure.

4. The increased potency of SSMs plays in the missile boat's favour.

5. I expect to see UAV technology being increasingly utilised to give small craft the ability to do "over the horizon" targeting without the need for a helipad. There are numerous UAVs being developed by many countries that could give this capability without significantly increasing the size of the boat.

ACtually the 022 might be the best because of its catamaran design.