AMD 350 patrol boat insipires Chinese fast-attack missile boat

It looked like a textbook win-win deal when Australian high-speed ferry designer AMD Marine Consulting formed a joint venture in 1993 with the engineering arm of a state-owned Chinese shipbuilder.

The joint venture partner, Guangzhou Marine Engineering Corporation, a subsidiary of the giant China State Shipbuilding Corporation, gained access to state-of-the-art technology in wave-piercing, aluminium-hull designs. For AMD, a Sydney-based private company, the payoff was a foothold in China's maritime market during a period of rapid growth. The joint venture, Seabus International Co, began designing high-speed aluminium catamaran ferries and sea rescue vessels for China's inland and coastal waters, according to the company's website.

That's when a third winner emerged.

Attracted to the performance of these fast, stable and relatively cheap vessels, the Chinese military adopted the technology as it began replacing its aging missile boats that had been derived from an obsolete Soviet design.

The new fleet of missile boats is a part of a naval buildup that backs up China's claims to islets and reefs in the South China Sea, waters rich in oil and gas and which half the world's ship tonnage passes through each year.

Since 2004, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) navy has deployed a rapidly expanding fleet of heavily armed, Houbei class fast-attack missile boats based on AMD's advanced catamaran hull.In a clear demonstration of the value of foreign dual-use technology in China's rapid military buildup, the Houbei class or Type-022 as it is also known, appears to be adapted from the AMD 350 patrol boat design, Chinese and Western analysts say.