China Converted a Container Ship into an Arsenal Ship with a Salvo of 60 Missiles

The People’s Republic of China has converted a commercial 97-meter cargo ship into an arsenal ship.

This is evidenced by photographs taken in Shanghai, showing the waters of the state-owned Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding shipyard, a subsidiary of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation.

The published images show that containerized launchers with a total of 60 missiles were placed on the small container feeder ship ZHONG DA 79. Potentially, such installations are capable of launching a wide range of weapons, including anti-ship, cruise, hypersonic, and anti-aircraft missiles.

The launchers are camouflaged in standard shipping containers with the inscription: “The Maritime Renaissance of the Chinese Nation and the Concept of a Shared Ocean Future for Humanity.”

In addition, the ZHONG DA 79 is armed with a 30-mm Type 1130 CIWS short-range anti-aircraft artillery system, as well as Type 726 decoy launchers.

The vessel was also equipped with a large rotating radar with an active phased array antenna, as well as an additional radar or communication antenna under a radio-transparent dome.

Such a set of weapons and sensors allows us to consider ZHONG DA 79 as an example of the practical implementation of the Arsenal Ship concept.

The key idea of this concept, formulated in the United States in the mid-1980s, is to create a relatively inexpensive carrier platform for a large number of missiles. In particular, the US military was studying the design of an arsenal ship capable of launching up to 500 cruise missiles.

The history of the ZHONG DA 79 conversion

It was found that ZHONG DA 79 had not been operating regular domestic flights for a long time. From April to August, the vessel was undergoing refitting at a shipyard in Longhai. Since August 2025, ZHONG DA 79 has been docked in Shanghai, where the final stage of the container ship’s transformation into an arsenal ship is believed to have taken place.

At the moment, ZHONG DA 79 is not listed as part of the Navy of the People’s Liberation Army of China or the Auxiliary Fleet. Thus, in fact, the armed vessel formally retains its civilian status.

Such a hybrid approach is typical for China in the context of asserting its dominance in the maritime domain. In particular, Beijing is actively using the so-called People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia, in which formally civilian fishing vessels carry out aggressive actions against ships of neighboring states, such as causing scuffles, blinding opponents with searchlights, creating dangerous situations, and pushing opponents out of disputed areas.

At the same time, the public release of photos of the new warship can also be seen as a demonstrative signal from China, especially to the United States. In this way, China is fostering a sense of growing superiority in developing maritime capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region.

Earlier, a Chinese 64-meter-long arsenal drone trimaran was also recorded on satellite images.