Sunday

Type 341 / H/LJP-341 RICE LAMP / Type 342/342C FOG LAMP / ZL-1B SD1/A 723 CW Tracking and Illuminating Radar




Type 341 radar.

The HQ-61 Surface to Air Missile system is derived from the Selenia Aspide, itself a derivative of the US AIM-7 Sparrow. The SAM is available in naval and land based air defence variants. The land based variant uses the Type 571 acquisition radar, a derivative of the Soviet P-15 Flat Face, and a CW tracking and illumination radar. The latter has not been seen in the West, but its naval variants have and are known as the Type 341 RICE LAMP and Type 342 FOG LAMP.

Type 341 Fire Control System - this ageing I-band fire control radar is reminiscent of HAWK SCREECH a Soviet shipborne fire control system of the 1960s and 1970s and it is suspected that Type 341 can probably trace it's origin to that period.

Originally widely fitted in JIANGHU, LUDA, JIANGWEI frigates for the control and direction of HQ-61 missile firings, it has since been replaced in many installations by Type 347G RICE BOWL in Chinese vessels, but not in exported hulls such as the Type 053HT CHAO PHRAYA class in Thailand.

It may still also be installed in some other older hulls where it supports either the twin 37mm or 57mm general-purpose guns although it appears to have been removed from the Thai Navy’s HUDONG class replenishment tanker.

Below the parabolic dish there is a longitudinal antenna-like array. The application is unknown but could be either an I-band, end-fed search array for which it is about the right size assuming that the director can rotate on its pedestal -or more likely it may have an IFF-like function.

Type 342 Fire Control Radar - this H/I-bands radar shares some physical similarities with the old Soviet OWL SCREECH fire control system.

Known in NATO as FOG LAMP, it is currently installed in JINGWEI I class frigates and is used as the target tracker for the HQ-61 surface-air-missile (SAM) systems in that hull.

This radar was also fitted in JIANGDONG class frigates, since replaced by later versions of JIANGWEI I.

It is believed that Type 342 might be nearing its demise in the PLAN. There are some similarities with Type 313, which is an I-band system originally developed in the late 1980s for land based and naval applications.

Although reported as an H/I band radar it is considered to function within the range indicated because H-band is preserved specifically for satellite related activities.

There is a single web record of a Type 342C but no details about this assumed emitter have been found. However, based on precedent this could be a land based mobile variant.


A HQ-61 battery launching a missile