Type 348 Radar
Type 346 (Also known as Type 348) Shipborne 3D Plate Array Radar Is Chinese shipborne Active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. It entered service with the People's Liberation Army Navy aboard the Type 052C destroyers in 2004; the radar was used in conjunction with the HQ-9 SAM.
Nomenclature
The radar mounted on the Type 052C has been called both the Type 346 and the Type 348.[citation needed]. It is not certain which designation belongs to the indigenous Chinese system described in this article, and which was given to a system imported to China from the Kvant Design Bureau of Ukraine. The Kvant radar operated in the C band and had a range of only 150–160 km.[1]
History
The true identity of this new, reportedly F/G-Band, shipborne 3D phased array system is understood to be H/LJG346. This is based on a report about the Sixth Young Scientist Award, which cited this new phased array radar. The report also stated that it is an active phased array system similar in design to the USN’s AEGIS system. There is conjecture as to the origin of this system. Is it wholly the work of an original Chinese research and development institute or does it contain elements of imported systems? There is a belief that the system might contain elements from existing systems in the Chinese military inventory, but knowing how Chinese R&D has developed over the last 10 years, it may be a completely new development capturing the very best of knowledge, components, packaging and software techniques currently available not only in China but globally. There is specific belief that some of the technology may be derived from the Ukrainian ISKRA company’s IL-220U that employs the 1L259M 3D monopulse emitter used in the land mobile ZOO PARK-2 weapon location system, but so far this has been refuted by the Ukrainians.
Design and Develpment
The Type 346 (originally believed to be Type 382) has also been referred to as the Shipborne Active Phased Array Radar System (SAPARS) and is installed on two Type 052C FFG Luyang II hulls, LANZHOU (170) and HAIKOU (171).
To date no parametric detail is known to have been overtly reported but if it does sport the 1L220-U front end, then it operates within NATO F-Band (3 ~ 4 GHz) and operating with the sub-band 3.0 ~ 3.4 GHz would accord with current ITU regulations although some sources suggest it might function in G-band (5,250 ~ 5,950 MHz), which has been favoured by the Chinese in a number of systems.The main array appears to comprise a matrix of 19 x 19 (361), plus 4 x 5 (20) giving a total of 381 elements or modules per array for an estimated system total of 1,524 modules on the assumption that each rectangle is an active Tx/Rx element.
References
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