America's missile launcher advantage is eroding against China

China is narrowing the gap in missile launchers with the US Navy as its long-standing advantage in vertical launch capabilities is eroding.

The destroyer USS Gravely launches a missile in the Red Sea in January.

The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is closing the gap with the U.S. Navy in the number of vertical launch tubes (VLS) on its warships, with China now boasting more than half the number of VLS that the U.S. Navy has on its surface combatants. Five years ago, Beijing had only one-fifth as many VLS as the United States.

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, a report by IISS (UK) 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 launchers on warships can load a variety of missiles, from anti-aircraft interceptors, anti-ship missiles to land attack weapons.

Warships are often equipped with a combination of different types of missiles to increase flexibility for missions.

By the end of 2024, the US Navy will have 85 surface warships with VLDs, while China will have 84, IISS said.

The US Navy still outnumbers the Chinese Navy in tonnage and firepower, but Beijing is catching up as it rolls out new, more capable warships.

Western weapons are weak because they focus on quality over quantity?

China continuously adds new ships

IISS report author Johannes Fischbach said the trend of narrowing the capability gap is due to the number of US warships decreasing and China surpassing the US in the speed of warship construction.

“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 warned in its latest report on China's military capabilities that Beijing could deploy long-range precision strikes against US surface warships in the near future.

Another report by the US Department of Defense also noted that China has more than 370 naval vessels, of which surface warships account for more than 140. This force is expected to increase to nearly 400 next year and 435 ships by the end of the decade.

“Most of the growth is in large surface combatants,” according to the Pentagon. Meanwhile, the majority of ships in the US fleet are getting older. The largest VLS-capable ships are among those slated for retirement, but production of new ships is lagging.

New Chinese warship classes, such as the Renhai-class destroyer with 112 VLS, are being built as planned.

High VLS capability allows warships to fire more missiles before reloading. Reloading can be difficult at sea and often takes place when the ship is in port.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/loi-the-vuot-troi-ve-ong-phong-ten-lua-cua-my-dang-xoi-mon-truoc-trung-quoc-185241221102344455.htm