We had a feeling we would be in for another round of weapons ‘reveals’ out of China this Christmas, following last year’s ‘leaks’ of not just one, but two tailless stealth tactical jet designs, among other developments. It appears we are getting at least one installment of this in the form of a medium-sized cargo ship packed full of containerized vertical launchers, along with sensors and self defense systems. The message is clear, China is making it known that it could, and likely will, turn ships from its behemoth of a commercial fleet into not just shooters, but arsenal ships.
The vessel has containers packed on its deck, both used for containing weapons and for mounting them, along with sensors. In other words, the layout appears to be designed as something of an improvised superstructure in order to turn the cargo ship into a heavily-armed surface combatant of sorts. This includes the mounting of a large rotating phased-array radar forward of the bridge atop three containers, as well as another domed radar or communications system across the deck from it mounted on two containers.
Near the bow of the vessel, high-up mounted on above two containers, we see an Type 1130 30mm close-in-weapon system (CIWS) for last-ditch defense against incoming threats, especially cruise missiles. One container lower, on both sides, we see Type 726 decoy launchers mounted on top of another pair of containers. The large cylindrical pods appear to be emergency life rafts, likely required because of the expanded crew size to make a concept like this work.
Then we get to the real eyebrow raiser, a deck literally covered with containerized vertical launchers. Installed five wide and three deep, each packing four large launch tubes, this arrangement gives the vessel a whopping 60 vertical large launch cells. This is two-thirds the VLS capacity of a Arleigh Burke class Flight I or II destroyer.
Due to the large radar installation, it appears this ship’s mission is something of a picket ship, rather than just an arsenal ship, providing area air defense, but that doesn’t mean its containerized launchers couldn’t pack other weapons. Still, something like this could be useful for persistently providing air defense over a given area.
Regardless, it’s an impressive display and there have been rumors about China going this route as it races to advance its goal of naval supremacy. We have already seen Chinese commercial ships leveraged at improvised helicopter carriers and ferries being shifted to the island invasion mission during exercises. It’s also worth noting that containerized weapon systems have moved from controversial oddity to the mainstream over the last decade, and it’s an area the U.S. continues to pursue heavily for all sorts of applications.
The images of China’s cargo ship turned floating missile farm offer a lot to look at, but the question has to be raised just how real this configuration is? It very much looks like it was made photo ready for these images. Is this a proof of concept demonstrator or just a mockup? How sturdy are the radar and CIWS installations, for instance? On closer examination of the images, the radar installation looks relatively robust, but takeaways are limited at this time. The radar would have an issue with being close to inline with the ship’s actual aft superstructure, although there are ways to mitigate this. And just because you can bolt all this to a commercial ship, it doesn’t mean it can employ these sensors and weapons effectively. What combat information system exists on the ship to integrate all these systems and effectively use them in combat?
We just don’t know at this time.
That isn’t to say that fully developing bespoke weapons configurations for commercial vessels isn’t a good strategy. Some will take major issue with this as it would supposedly ‘turn every ship into a target’ during a time of conflict, and certainly maritime lawyers would have insightful opinions on it, but the advantage of such a ready-to-go capability is clear. China, with its massive fleets of cargo ships and gargantuan shipbuilding capacity could leverage this concept to a degree that it would become a huge problem for the U.S. and its allies. On the other hand, as we have suggested before, going a similar route will likely become necessary for the U.S. Navy, which is being overrun in shipbuilding by the People’s Liberation Army Navy, and that delta will likely only widen as time goes on. This reality is only exacerbated by one failed surface combatant program after another.
There will be much more to discuss about China’s weaponized cargo ship concept in the days to come, and, if last year was any indication, this may not be the only ‘surprise Christmas gift’ that Beijing delivers in the hours ahead.
Contact the author: Tyler@twz.com