Draft:Omnok Class Corvette

The Omnok Class(사리원급 초계함) is a North Korean designed corvette used by North Korea. This ship is considered a ''Cruise missile armed corvette''.

This class of ship is somewhere around the 2,000-ton (?) displacement and features many of the attributes of a modern warship. There is a serious effort to reduce radar cross section (RCS) as much as possible and to add the most modern weapons and sensors available in North Korea. However, despite the fact that the majority of the weapons and sensors on board are severely obsolete in comparison with western or Asian designs, it is a major step forward for North Korea. From the equipment on board, which looks second-hand, with only few exceptions, we may assume that the North Koreans used systems and weapons from retired ships such as the Najin-class light frigates while China supplied the rest, probably also from retired ships. This new vessel has been spotted under construction for the first time in 2011 but was identified as new naval ship in late 2016. There is probably a second unit also in service or fitting-out with similar appearance to the “661”.

The mast accommodates a main radar, which is identical to the Chinese Type 362 (MR36A) 2D X-band air and surface search and target indication radar, and two navigation radars of which the one is an S-band Furuno. Atop the bridge there are an EO/IR gimbal payload, a Nikhrom-RRM ESM/IFF and a fire control radar (FCR) similar to the old Russian/Soviet MR-104 to control the AK-630 based CIWS (a modified AK-230, that’s why the MR-104 FCR), all except the EOS probably from retired OSA-class FACM. A second FCR is installed above the part of the superstructure that houses the cruise missiles. There are also two optical naval artillery fire control systems, similar to the Russian SP-520 (SP-520 CS), one looking forward and one looking aft. The existence of decoy launchers indicate the existence of a dedicated radar electronic support measures system (R-ESM) and more likely a radio direction finder (RDF). We cannot verify the existence of a hull-mounted sonar or other equipment.