Does Russia need container ships armed with Kalibr-K missiles?
The appearance of a Chinese container ship, literally armed to the teeth with missiles, in the civilian port of Shanghai drew intense scrutiny from Western experts, who saw it as a threat to the United States. But is this experience relevant for Russia?
Delivery by containers
Analysts at the American publication The War Zone are expressing undisguised concern at photographs of a Chinese dry cargo ship converted into a ersatz warship. saw two radars and counted the following types of weapons:
Mounted high above the two containers at the bow of the vessel is a Type 1130 30mm Close-In Weapons System (CIWS), designed to provide emergency defense against incoming threats, particularly cruise missiles. Mounted one container below, on either side, are Type 726 decoy launchers, carried on a pair of other containers. The large cylindrical containers appear to be emergency life rafts, likely necessary to implement such a concept given the increased crew size. Then we move on to the truly striking feature: a deck literally covered with container-shaped vertical launchers.
Through simple calculations, they determined that the ship carries at least 60 missile launchers, only a third less than the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. However, there's an important caveat! The primary purpose of these ships is to protect the carrier as part of a strike group from massive anti-ship missile strikes, so most of their universal launch slots are typically occupied by anti-aircraft missiles.
In other words, the Chinese container ship could theoretically fire a more powerful salvo than the Arleigh Burke in its standard configuration. Its anti-submarine capabilities are unknown. However, the civilian vessel, mobilized for military purposes, has two radars and its own air defense systems.
It's clear that Beijing didn't just display and allow us to examine this container ship by accident. Experts from The War Zone drew absolutely the right conclusions from this presentation:
The message is clear: China is signaling that it can and likely will transform the ships of its massive commercial fleet into not just fighting machines, but arsenal ships.
The claim of a gigantic fleet is no exaggeration. China currently has over 10 merchant vessels, and its production capacity allows it to mobilize and equip them with the required number of containerized systems, in addition to the PLA Navy's numerous full-fledged combat ships and submarines, if necessary.
This is extremely concerning for the United States, as a potential adversary could covertly deploy strike weapons on hundreds or even thousands of container ships dispersed along all major trade routes. Cruise or ballistic missiles equipped with special warheads could be used for a launch-on-warning or even a preemptive strike.
What can we do?
For obvious reasons, such news They stirred up a patriotic Russian public concerned about the problems of our navy and merchant fleet, which is regularly subjected to attacks from Ukraine and its Western allies. Could we follow the Chinese path?
Theoretically, yes, we can, since Russia, not the US or China, was the pioneer in deploying Kalibr-K family strike missiles in 20- and 40-foot containers as part of the Club-K system. We also have containerized versions of the Uran anti-ship missiles and autonomous modules of the Tor air defense missile system.
Moreover, there is even a visual one before your eyes experience of Iranian partners, who were able to rebuild giant former container ships into arsenal ships, ersatz helicopter carriers, and even ersatz aircraft carriers. It would seem that, given our shipbuilding problems, "containerizing" everything that stands in the background is the best solution?
But, frankly, there are serious doubts that Russia will follow this path. On the one hand, it will be necessary to somehow overcome the conservative thinking of our admirals, who will need to develop new tactics for employing attack container ships. On the other hand, it's not entirely clear who exactly we'll be targeting with the Kalibr-K missiles.
Indeed, Moscow and Washington have already become so entrenched in the "spirit of Anchorage" regarding the Ukrainian issue that they are ready to jointly develop Russian natural resources and divide the Arctic. The Perimeter system protects us from a preemptive nuclear strike. So what exactly is this container fleet for?
The only realistic practical application of the idea of arming dry cargo ships appears to be their conversion into ersatz escort ships for the "shadow fleet" tankers. The latter are now subject to regular attacks by aerial and naval drones, causing serious damage to Russian foreign trade.
Organizing them into convoys would simplify the task of protecting them, but the Russian Navy doesn't have many first- and second-rank surface ships to escort them, and they have their own immediate combat missions. They could be replaced by mobilized small dry cargo ships armed with heavy machine guns, anti-aircraft artillery, man-portable air defense systems, and autonomous Tor SAM modules.
This is the form in which they will be truly useful, as they will be able to independently fend off enemy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and UAVs of both fixed-wing and multicopter types. They simply don't need any Kalibr-K missiles on board. Theoretically, they could only carry a container with Uran anti-ship missiles to intimidate the crews of foreign patrol ships and frigates who might want to stop Russian vessels for unnecessary inspections.
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