China first received a single unit of Soviet Osa-I class missile boat in January 1965, and 4 more in 1966 through 1967 and the last 2 in 1968. Eventually the Jiangnan Building Factory built the Chinese version as Type 021 class missile boat at a rate of 10 boats per year with several different versions. Although majority of this class is being transferred to reserve, several dozens remain active and these active units are being rearmed with C-101 supersonic anti-ship missiles. These boats are effectively used in swarm missile attacks.
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Huangfeng class missile boat is the direct Chinese translation of Soviet Osa class missile boat, and around 130 were built, including exported units. This class consists of several versions with different armament. Most are armed with twin 25 mm guns, while some are armed with a single AK-230 gun mount. The majority lack the fire control radars but some do have a radar radome aft (between the two missile launchers).
The major improvement of the Huangfeng class over the original Soviet Osa-I class is that the Chinese engine, which is the improvement of the original Soviet M503A diesel engine has been so efficient that the range of the boat is more than doubled without significant proportional increase of fuel consumption. However, due to the limited size of the boat, the actual endurance is not drastically increased because there is not enough extra space to store additional provisions needed for the longer endurance. Other improvements over the original Soviet Osa-I class included a much improved fire extinguishing system and life support system.
A single unit of Type 021 without the gun is called Hola class missile boat. The Hola class missile boat is slightly larger than the Huangfeng class, with length increased to more than 42 meters. The boat has an additional radar radome that is also onboard many Huangfeng class boats and there is an additional pair of missile launchers added, but this pair can be readily removed when needed. The mast is also redesigned so that it can be folded down when entered the protective cave in the mountains. The design is obviously more successful than the Homa class and despite its age, the Hola class boat remains in active service like a few of its Huangfeng class cousins. This class is also known as Hela class.
Houdong class missile boat is the newest upgrade of the Type 021 class missile boat. The new boat is modified to carry C-801/802/803 while retained the hull of the original Type 021. Although the design was successful, more capable missile boats such as the Houxing class missile boat were already becoming available, so the Houdong class was geared for export, with Iran being the first customer and the one in Chinese inventory is used for training foreign crews, and as a demonstrator to other potential customers, as well as other test and trial purposes.
For Huangfeng class of the Type 021 class missile boat:
For Houdong class of the Type 021 class missile boat:
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