ASIAN DEFENCE

Reports claim there has been substantial design work and concept proofing for a new underwater arsenal ship in China . A leading chinese naval engineer Professor Dong Wei Cai continued to work on a key aspect of the arsenal ship design: the high-speed wave hydroplane up until his recent death. There are two concepts in circulation: 1. a high-speed warship with much of its hull submerged but otherwise has a functional superstructure with defense weapons and radar 2. other is almost completely submerged arsenal ship with two conning towers. Both ship designs could displace roughly about 20,000 tons at full load. These warships could carry hundreds of guided missiles.  Arsenal Ship The arsenal ship would have most of its hull inherently submerged, with only the bridge and a few other parts of the ship above the waterline which reduce the radar cross section. This would be in situations where the ship is hiding or trying to protect itself.

China has conducted seven tests of a hypersonic glide missile in recent years , six of which have been successful. While Beijing has acknowledged such testing, it was previously unknown that it is also working on a short-range hypersonic weapons development program for East Asian targets. Hypersonic weapons are next-generation maneuvering strike vehicles launched at top of  ballistic missiles that travel at speeds of up to Mach 10, or 10 times the speed of sound. They maneuver and glide along the edge of space, making them very difficult for missile defenses to shoot down. PAC-3 The United States and Russia have also been aggressive about developing hypersonic strike capability. It is thought that Japan’s anti missile system could be made impotent if Beijing’s development of hypersonic weapons advances. In Japan, the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile defense system has been deployed by the Air Self-Defense Force along with the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Aegis de...