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China's Navy has a crazy new ship [1]

['Séamus Bellamy']

Date: 2025-12-29  

It's no secret that China is hungry to own the seas. They've been plopping out artificial islands to build military installations on for years, and, more recently, they've been pushing hard to wrest naval superiority from the United States. While they still have a long way to go, they've been outpacing the U.S. in putting new vessels in the water for sea trials to make them combat-ready. They've also proven very capable of producing weapon systems that can sexually arouse a James Bond villain.

Folks on troubling military hardware Twitter and Bluesky have been going gaga over the unveiling of a ship that looks like it's hauling iPhones, pillows, and inflatable sex toys, but in reality is stacked to the tippy-top with Vertical Launch System (VLS) air defence missiles. Once the ship has taken up position, what looks like regular shipping containers open up to reveal multiple VLS tubes, ready to deny air superiority to whoever China is pissed off at. It could sneak up into a littoral position to protect the landing of personnel and equipment during an invasion or be deployed to deny areas to adversaries at sea. The only thing that gives it away as a military vessel is its massive radar array. But by the time you can see that, it's already in range.

VLS count estimate for this specific configuration:

– 4x VLS per ISO container

– 4-5x containers abreast

– 3x containers longitudinally placed at full fitout



48-60 VLS onboard total?



These seem like full sized VLS too, could be H/AJK-16, UVLS or something in between. https://t.co/tRjvz6EHod pic.twitter.com/9R1OtLWNis — Rick Joe (@RickJoe_PLA) December 25, 2025

Don't get me wrong. This isn't a unique technology: the U.S. has been investing heavily in mission-specific packages contained in a removable housing that is loaded on a ship to meet the needs of its crew. Need air defence? A cruise missile package to support a Special Forces operation on shore? Just request the correct big, grey box, and you're in business. What makes the PLA Navy's take on the tech unique is camouflaging its platforms as vessels that look like one of the hundreds of freighters moving cargo containers to and fro around the world at any given moment. I'm not a fan of their foreign or domestic policies, but what they've done here is brilliant.

Previously:

• China's Navy just seized a U.S. military drone that was underwater in the South China Sea

• Satellite images show massive models of US warships built in China desert

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