In 2022, during the Zhuhai Airshow, China unveiled its container missile system, which has been given the Western designation CSDCS and is essentially an improved copy of the russian Club-K. While the russian system is limited to Kh-35 and Kalibr missiles, the Chinese CSDCS can launch a much wider range of munitions and requires only 3 to 4 crew members.
The status of CSDCS is currently unclear. However, The prospect of China deploying this system in a Pacific conflict is deeply alarming to the US Navy. This is discussed in a new publication by War on the Rocks.
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The authors emphasize that the threat posed by Chinese CSDCS container missile systems lies not only in the fact that they are disguised as civilian objects, making it difficult to anticipate a possible attack. The threat lies in the possibility that China could employ the CSDCS in a manner similar to Ukraine’s Operation Spider’s Web, delivering a single, devastating strike capable of inflicting critical losses on the US Navy in the Pacific theater.
China showed the first prototypes of their container missile systems back in 2016. The CSDCS, presented in 2022, is a development of previous work. This demonstrates the People's Liberation Army's direct interest in using such systems in combat against the US.
In addition, China actively explores ways to use civilian vessels for military purposes. This demonstrates that the Chinese military has no psychological barrier to, for example, using civilian container ships to strike the enemy, in particular with container missile launchers.
For the US Navy, The problem is that the current international legal framework prohibits engaging civilian vessels unless there is reliable evidence that they are being used for military purposes. In the case of container launchers, indicators of their military use typically become apparent only at the moment of missile launch.
It is known that the CSDCS can use YJ-12E supersonic and YJ-18E cruise anti-ship missiles missiles, YJ-83 subsonic anti-ship missiles, YJ-62 subsonic long-range anti-ship missiles, and PL-16 active radar-guided missiles. In total, there are four launchers.
It should be noted that the first presentation of the russian Club-K container system took place back in 2012, while the status of this weapon is unclear. Misinformation circulated suggesting that the russian Black Sea Fleet's Project 22160 patrol ships could carry Kalibr missiles, largely because russian propagandists repeatedly claimed that Club-K systems could be installed on these vessels.
Earlier Defense Express reported that China's new hybrid tank had sparked laser weapon speculation.
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