The destroyer USS Gravely launched a missile in the Red Sea in January
The Chinese Navy (PLAN) is closing the gap with the US Navy in the number of vertical missile launchers (VLS) on warships, with the Chinese side’s VLS number now more than half that of its warship fleets. of the US Navy. Five years ago, Beijing only owned 1/5 as many VLSs as the US.
8,400 vs 4,300
The above fact represents a sharp increase in one of the indicators reflecting naval capacity, according to a report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) on December 20.
Specifically, the IISS (UK) report calculated that the US has about 8,400 vertical missile launchers on warships, while the Chinese navy has about 4,300 VLS on the same number of ships.
Vertical missile launch tubes on warships can load many different types of missiles, from anti-aircraft interceptors, anti-ship weapons to land attack weapons.
Warships are often equipped with a combination of many different types of missiles to increase mission flexibility.
IISS said that by the end of 2024, the US Navy has 85 warships afloat with VLD, and China has 84 ships.
The US Navy still surpasses the Chinese Navy in terms of tons and firepower, but Beijing is catching up, shipping new warships with improved capabilities.
Western weapons are weak when quality outweighs quantity?
China continuously adds new ships
IISS report author Johannes Fischbach said the trend of narrowing the gap in capabilities is due to the decrease in the number of US warships and China is surpassing the US in the speed of building warships.
“The capability gap between the US Navy and the PLAN will continue to narrow for the foreseeable future,” according to expert Fischbach.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon in its latest report on China’s military capabilities warned that Beijing could deploy long-range precision attacks on US surface warships in the near future.
Another report by the US Department of Defense also noted that China has more than 370 naval ships, of which surface warships account for more than 140 ships. The force is expected to grow to nearly 400 next year and 435 ships by the end of the decade.
“Most of the growth is in large surface warships,” according to the Pentagon. Meanwhile, the majority of warships in the US fleet are getting older. The ships with the largest VLS capabilities are among those due for retirement, but production of new warships is being delayed.
New classes of Chinese warships, such as the Ren Hai class of destroyers with 112 VLS, are being shipped as planned.
High VLS capability allows warships to launch more missiles before having to reload. Missile loading operations can be difficult at sea and often take place when the ship is in port.
