Type 730 CIWS
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The Type 730 is a Chinese 30 mm Gatling gun CIWS. It is mounted in an enclosed automatic turret and directed by radar, and electro-optical tracking systems. The maximum rate of fire is from 4200 rd/m to 5800 rd/m, and the effective range is up to 3 km.
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[edit] Origin
The system's primary purpose is defence against anti-ship missiles, and other precision guided weapons. However it can also be employed against fixed/rotary wing aircraft, ships and other small craft, coastal targets, and floating mines. Though externally similar to the Dutch Goalkeeper in appearance, possibly even a copy, it is thought to operate indigenous radar and optical systems. Another reported source of technology was reported to be the French which had experimented with the same General Electric EX-83 mount under the SAMOS program in the mid 1980s. Photos of the prototype unit under trial apparently shows a Sagem VOLCAN EO director in place of the domestic OFC-3 EO director. The Chinese are currently developing a new version of the system which will include missiles on the same installation. A land based variant designated LD2000 have also been shown.
[edit] Development
The gun is designed by the 713th (research) institute under the name 'Project 850' and is powered by 2 electric motors. The radar TR47C is a derivative of the EFR-1/LR66 J-band radar (NATO code name: Rice Lamp) by Xi'an Research Institute of Navigation Technology, but it is unclear that if this derivative is developed by the same institution. The OFC (Optical Fire Control)-3 electro-optical fire control system is designed by the Central China Optronic (electro-optical) Research Institute.
[edit] Radar
The TR47C radar operates in the same way of AN/APY-1/2 radar onboard E-3 Sentry in that the azimuth is scanned mechanically, while the elevation is scanned electronically, incorporating a total of 169 transceivers of phased array technology that enables the radar to pick up the splashes of 30 mm rounds. Like the western CIWS, the information is processed on site, via local computers of the radar and the gun mount, thus providing faster reaction time than the Russian design in which the radar and fire control system are separately located.
[edit] Electro-optics (optronics)
The OFC-3 system is modular design that is consisted of a laser range finder, a color TV camera, and an IR camera, and the laser range finder can be replaced by a laser designator (for the laser beam riding SAM), the TV camera can be replaced by a night vision camera, and the IR camera can be replaced by a ImIR, at higher cost. Development to incorporate the dual band IR, night vision camera, and the color TV camera is reportedly in progress.
[edit] Fire-control system
Like western CIWS, Type 730 CIWS can process all the information on its own, thus offers faster reaction time than the Russian AK-630, but Type 730 CIWS lacks the local manual control such as that on AK-230. Type 730 CIWS is fully compatible with Chinese and European combat data systems such as ZKJ-1, ZKJ-4, ZKJ-4A-3, ZKJ-5, ZKJ-6, ZKJ-7, H/ZBJ-1, and Thomson-CSF TAVITAC, and can be directly integrated with these combat data systems without any modification.
[edit] Range
The system can track a sea-skimming target with 0.1 square metre radar cross section at 8 km, extended to 15 km if the radar cross section is increased to 2 square metres, and further extended to 20 km if the radar cross section is increased to 10 square metres, though the targets could not be engaged until much closer (3 km) due to the limited range of the gun.
[edit] Gun
The 30 mm Gatling gun is extremely similar to the General Electric GAU-8/A Avenger, and possibly a copy. Although there are sources claiming that it is the Chinese version of the Russian Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-30 Gatling gun, this appears to be unlikely, since the Russian Gatling gun only has 6 barrels. Like the American Gatling gun, the Chinese Gatling gun can only last a single minute if fired at the rate of 4,200 rounds per minute, after which the heat generated would melt the rifles of the barrel, ending its useful life. If fired at the rate greater than 4,200 rounds per minutes, the barrels last even shorter.
[edit] Deployment
The system has been fitted onboard the 052B, 052C, 051C destroyers and the new 054A frigate so far, and is expected to replace some Type 76 mounts on older combatants. Although many foreign sources predicted that this CIWS will be standard for all new principle surface combatants, this did not materialize due to the high cost of the system, and smaller new ships such as frigates are equipped with the Russian AK-630 instead.
