VESSEL REVIEW | Hujinghao – Chinese naval trimaran with unmanned navigation capability

Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of the China Shipbuilding Group (CSG), recently unveiled a new naval trimaran vessel capable of unmanned operations.

Slated for the People's Liberation Army Navy, Hujinghao (虎鲸号; "Killer Whale") has an LOA of 58 metres (190 feet), a beam of 23 metres (75 feet), a draught of two metres (6.6 feet), a depth of four metres (13 feet), a displacement of 500 tonnes, and a range of 4,000 nautical miles. The hull and the superstructure both have stealth features, and the vessel’s radar cross-section is further reduced through the use of thin plates of welded aluminium.

Large size comparable to unmanned warship designs from overseas

The vessel combines a trimaran design with a wave-piercing inverted bow to improve stability and maintain attitude. A hybrid electric propulsion system will enable the vessel to attain high transit speeds while still guaranteeing long endurance.

Its dimensions meanwhile make Hujinghao one of the largest unmanned warships to be built, larger than even the US Navy’s own Sea Hunter and Seahawk USVs, which measure 40 metres (130 feet) long each. Although about the same size as the US-built Mariner and Ranger naval USV demonstrators, the Chinese vessel is a trimaran, which allows for a lower displacement, whereas the US vessels are both monohulls and are therefore around 170 tonnes heavier.

Although fitted with a bridge to permit crews to be available during testing or navigating in busy waterways, the USV will be entirely unmanned as part of its normal operating profile.

The trimaran is of modular construction to permit the integration of mission-specific modules for a range of naval missions such as anti-air warfare, anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, and strike warfare as well as secondary missions including search and rescue.

First in a planned new fleet of USVs

Gun armament can be fitted on a remote weapon station, while aft deck space is also available for use by a rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle. The electronics suite includes a phased array radar, which will allow a full 360 degrees of coverage for detection and tracking of surface and airborne threats. This makes Hujinghao one of the first purpose-built unmanned vessels to be fitted with a phased array radar.

Hujinghao is a further development of an earlier smaller trimaran built by China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation in 2018 (prior to the company’s merger with CSG). There are plans to employ trimaran vessels from the same series as Hujinghao for other maritime security applications such as maritime border control and surveillance.