Timor-Leste: Ro Funu Shanghai Class - Good Deal or not?

These are pictures of the Type - 62 Shanghai Class patrol boats that Timor is buying from China. The front and back cannon can fire 4000 m is distance and 3000 m in height. Pretty strong stuff for fuel/timber smugglers.

According to SinoDefence.com (http://www.sinodefence.com/navy/littoral/shanghai2.asp)

"The Type 62 (NATO codename: Shanghai-II class) is a small gun patrol boat. Over 300 examples were built between 1982 and 1988 for both PLA Navy and foreign customers. It is believed that about 100 boats are still in operational and reserve service with the PLA Navy. The Type 62C has two twin-barrel 37mm antiaircraft artillery (AAA) guns and two twin-barrel 25mm AAA guns. The boat could also carry eight deep charges for antisubmarine warfare (ASW), and/or six mines for mine warfare. The Type 62 is only suitable for costal patrol, and cannot be deployed far from the homeport. The self reliance endurance of the boat is 7 days."

Does this mean that these boats cannot do long range fisheries patrol? If so it seems a waste of the 28 million RDTL plans to spend....

These are old model boats. I hope that ones that come are at least new.








According to china-defense.com (http://www.china-defense.com/naval/shanghai_class/shanghai_class_2.html)

"There were also some major shortcomings of the [early] Type 62. It was a small patrol craft designed and build in China during the 1960s. The first production model offered horrible conditions for its crew it had no air-conditioning, an essential necessity for patrols on the South China Sea [and it would seem the Timor Sea as well] . Each crew bunk bed was only 2 square meters and allowed no room for any personal items. Its water tank could only contain 5 tons of fresh water, a crew of 40 could only last a week at sea. Loud engine noise and very limited living space took a great toll on the crew’s endurance.

Other shortcomings included: short operational range; navigation and communication equipment were almost none-existent, and its bridge offered very low visibility. It could not venture far off shore nor stand any chance in actions against large well equipped enemy ships. It is a low-cast patrol boat designed for rapid wartime production; it was no surprise that both the hull and the engine had a very limited lifespan. Its engines were only capable of 300 to 400 operational hours. [alot of maintenance in Hera Port] The design allowed Daling shipyard produce a Type 62 from start to finish in one month."