China's new warship is more powerful than an aircraft carrier

China is developing an avant-garde, oddly shaped new concept of warships that can sail on the surface as well as dive.

It could mean a revival of the once-popular "wukong" ship in the Chinese navy as a fire support platform for China's aircraft carrier battle groups.

According to the U.S. website Popular Science, after the Cold War, the West proposed the construction of an "arsenal ship" with high mobility and hundreds of land-to-sea attack missiles, and the U.S. Navy's design was to install 500 missiles on a 10,000-ton ship. The U.S. Navy's design proposal was to install 500 missile vertical launch units on a 10,000-ton ship, equipped with a variety of missiles, including Tomahawk cruise missiles, Standard ship-to-air missiles, Harpoon anti-ship missiles, missile defense and fire support systems on shore, and other missiles. At the time, it was considered to be a revolutionary ship that could replace the aircraft carrier, but was eventually abandoned for various reasons.

Since 2011, Chinese researchers have tested pool models of both designs. Rumors on the Internet suggest that China will launch a full-scale proof-of-concept for a "Chinese version of the Musudan" in 2020.

I've heard the term "arsenal ship" before, but it's not Chinese, it's a derivative of the US maritime strike strategy based on the late Cold War.

In 1995, shortly after the end of the Cold War, the U.S. Navy formally put forward the development of the Arsenal ship development program, and then the specific requirements, the ship configuration of 500 missile vertical launchers, the crew should be controlled in the 50 people, the hull of the ship with a double shell, 250 meters in length, the maximum speed of 25 knots, the ship is not equipped with any radar and electronic detection systems and combat systems, all the combat needs of the Tactical intelligence and targeting information are all provided by the Cooperative Operations Network (CEC), which is a network-centered warfare mode of operation.

While an arsenal ship can carry six DDG-51 "Arleigh Burke" class destroyer missile volume, it looks like high combat effectiveness, low cost, but because the arsenal ship can not complete the combat mission on their own, so by April 1997, the program was renamed by the U.S. Navy as the "Maritime Fire Support Validation Ship," but the program was canceled altogether in December.

But the construction of three DDG-1000 "Jumbo Walter" class guided missile destroyers can be considered the successor to the U.S. arsenal of ships, although in the function has been greatly changed, but its science fiction color is still very strong.

Could not have imagined that the world has evolved to the point where this idea has not been realized in the United States, but instead has been confirmed in China. According to China's official information, "China's version of the arsenal ship" has two options, one is most of the hull submerged underwater, leaving only the air defense weapons and radar exposed to the surface of the semi-submersible hull design, the other is the use of dual command tower submarine arsenal ship design.

According to design sketches and a pool model revealed by Chinese television, the "Chinese version of the Bukkake" will have a flattened hull, a hull steering system, and be able to switch between four modes of navigation: fully submerged, semi-submersible, medium-speed on the surface of the water, and high-speed on the surface of the water. When the "Chinese version of the Muko Ship" remains semi-submerged, it will greatly reduce the radar reflection area, and when it cooperates with the naval formation operation, it will surface at high speed.

There are speculations that it will have a full-load displacement of 20,000 tons and hundreds of missile launching units, and that it will be able to achieve sea, air and land strikes with its powerful firepower within the anti-aircraft fire circle of the carrier's carrier-based aviation and surface ships.

Based on the imagery, the "Chinese version of the Wukong ship" would be equipped with as many as 44 vertical launch modules, which would make it a standard missile-launching platform with an actual reserve of 352 missiles.

Not only that, of course, but the ship will also be equipped with two large-caliber, fully-automated stealth guns, likely of 155mm or 203mm caliber, at the front and back of the bridge, mainly for long-range intensive strikes against land targets.

However, on the envisioned displacement of the ship, if the displacement of 20,000 tons of scale, then, it is loaded with missile vertical launch module will increase, the actual reach more than 60 modules should not be a problem, and only then and the U.S. military's ability to carry 500 missiles arsenal ship comparable.

Such a large number of missile launch modules will enable the "Chinese version of the arsenal ship" to carry a variety of high-tech missiles in service, including the Long Sword-20 cruise missiles, Hawk-18 anti-ship missiles, Haihongqi-9B anti-aircraft missiles, Fish-11 anti-submarine missiles, and even special modules to carry the Dongfeng-21D anti-ship ballistic missiles, which will be able to be used at long distances to launch missiles, as well as other anti-ship missiles. ballistic missiles, thus being able to hunt down U.S. carrier battle groups in distant oceans.

It is clear that the "arsenal ships" that China is committed to developing are mainly for guarding its sea borders or responding to possible future outbreaks of war at sea.

Therefore, the use of new military concepts of modern warfare, in as much as possible to conceal, narrow its own target at the same time, so that the warships have a huge attack capability, the ship is loaded with a variety of anti-ship, anti-aircraft, anti-submarine and other functions of a variety of ranges of tactical missiles.

Such a "maritime arsenal" of missiles would have more offensive power than a normal aircraft carrier and would be capable of destroying a country at a time.

If the "Chinese version of the Arsenal" as described by foreign countries can be realized, it will undoubtedly be an epic revolution for the Chinese navy, another masterpiece of the Chinese navy after equipping aircraft carriers and following the Type 055 10,000-ton destroyers.

If a "Chinese version of the Wukong ship" is attached to the future carrier battle group of the Chinese Navy, its superior strike capability will become the backbone of China's developing oceangoing navy, along with the carrier strike force of the Chinese Navy.