(Reuters) - 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, aluminum-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 aluminum 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 are part of a naval buildup that back 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.
This growing military muscle has prompted the United States to make a strategic shift toward Asia.
MISSILE BOAT
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.
However, AMD's technical director, Allan Soars, said the Australian company was not involved in the design of the missile craft.
He said after the joint venture company Seabus International had designed some fast ferries it appeared the PLA Navy had decided the company's wave piercing technology would make a good platform for a military vessel.
"I have no knowledge of the mechanisms at play, but it would appear that Seabus International was co-opted by the PLA navy to design the vessel platform," Soars said. This was not done at the Seabus International offices but at a military establishment.
"The whole process was carried out in secrecy and under strict confidentiality agreements directly with the Seabus International staff who are all Chinese nationals."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/01/us-china-military-technology-idUSBRE84U1HG20120601
Amazing Chinese R&D capability
Aussie AMD 350
Length Overall: 42.5 m
Beam Overall: 12.2 m
Draft (maximum) :1.4 m
Chinese PLAN Houbei Class Type 22
Length Overall: 42.6 m
Beam Overall: 12.2 m
Draft (maximum) :1.5 m
