Multi-Purpose Assault Craft Mk.3 - A Spiky Assault

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Multi-Purpose Assault Craft Mk.3 (BA488 - 494)

TL;DR:
Coastal vessel, Filipino missile boat with Spikes and light MGs.

Overview:
Designed in Taiwan by the Lung Teh shipbuilding company for the Philippine Navy, the Multi-Purpose Assault Craft (MPAC) is overall quite similar to the Swedish CB90, with a similar shape, forward assault ramp, and waterjets for good manoeuverability. The MPAC Mk.3 is the third generation of the MPAC design, with its major change being the removal of the bow assault ramp. In exchange, the Mk.3 is armed with new Israeli weapon systems, a Mini-Typhoon RWS, and a missile launcher capable of carrying 2 or 4 Spike fire and forget missiles.

The first Mk.3s were ordered in 2016 with 3 built domestically by the Propmech Shipbuilding Company. They were delivered in 2017 and assigned to the 3rd Boat Attack Division of the Littoral Combat Force. They initially lacked armament, and had to wait until 2018 to receive them. Additionally in 2018, a second series of the Mk.3s were ordered, with an additional 3 ships built and commissioned in 2019.

Specifications:

Armament:
1x1 12.7mm M2 in Mini-Typhoon RWS
2x1 7.62mm M60
1x4 Typhoon MLS-ER missile launcher (Spike-ER missiles)

Displacement:
25 tons standard

Length: 16.5m

Beam: 4.76m

Draft: 2.1m

Propulsion: 2 Caterpillar diesel engines, 2100 hp, driving 2 waterjets

Speed: 47 knots (87 km/h)

Range: 350 nmi (at 30 knots)

Crew: 7

Systems:
Electro-optical camera/director
Raymarine navigation radar

Images:

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Drawings/models:

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Sources:

https://www.navypedia.org/ships/philippines/phil_cf_ba488.htm
https://www.phdefresource.com/2019/11/multi-purpose-attack-craft-batch-4.html
Images:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Multi-Purpose_Attack_Craft_(MPAC)_Mk_3

2 Likes

I LOVE this tiny ship.

Ship missiles are mostly lacking in this game, so at the moment it would be (almost) completely useless.

I disagree! It would DOMINATE in coastal, as it would simply FnF any small boat on the water. Larger vessels might not die in one hit, but an HE warhead from a Spike missile would still do a lot of damage.

Perhaps it would - but only if naval missiles were widely included.

At the moment there are several anti-ship missiles fitted onto boats that you cannot use - Spike would be the same right now - just decoration.

Leaving it with only machineguns - ie pretty much useless.

The Nettuno missiles on the Saetta, the Tartar on the Douglas, the Volna-M on the Bravy… Sure the last two are technically SAMs, but they work equally well against other boats. The Exocet launchers on the Albatros would be way too powerful right now, and the Chikugo doesn’t have missiles but rather an ASROC launcher, which fires rocket-assisted guided torpedoes. There are some Soviet boats with Strela-2 mounts, and I could possibly see those coming at some point, but because the BR disparity is so vast, those would be pretty unfair. The Spikes, though, I could see coming.