China’s military has warned that America’s new containerised missile and rocket launch system could “seriously undermine regional strategic stability”.
A commentary in PLA Daily on Thursday noted that the launcher – hidden inside a shipping container – had appeared in recent footage from the US Army’s Fort Bragg base in North Carolina.
The People’s Liberation Army mouthpiece said the launcher could fire a range of missiles and rockets including those used for the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (Himars).
The containerised system was among the artillery seen in footage from US President Donald Trump’s June visit to Fort Bragg, the US Army’s special operations hub. The roof of the container was open to one side, revealing two ammunition launchers used on the MLRS and Himars.
According to the PLA Daily commentary, the system enabled “any truck that can carry a standard container” to be used as a platform to launch long-range guided rockets and missiles.
It comes after a Ukrainian attack that destroyed Russian aircraft in June – dubbed Operation Spiderweb – in which short-range drones were smuggled into Russia. The drones were hidden in modified shipping containers with detachable roofs which were loaded onto trucks and moved into position before the strikes were carried out on strategic and high-value targets.
The commentary said the launch system could be “mixed in with ordinary containers, camouflaged with civilian paint and maritime freight, and delivered to a designated launch location in secret”.
“This high concealment not only improves the survivability of the system but also enables the US military to achieve tactical surprise when necessary … allowing them to quickly deploy and launch attacks simultaneously at multiple dispersed locations,” it said.
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The commentary noted that the US Army revealed a similar containerised launcher in a video on news site MilitaryTimes.com in August last year.
In addition, it said the US military had already fielded the Mk70 containerised vertical launch system that can fire Standard air defence missiles and Tomahawk land-attack missiles with a range of up to 1,600km (990 miles).
It said the US Army’s Typhon medium-range missile system – deployed in 2024 to Luzon Island in the north of the Philippines, from where it could reach all of the South China Sea and Taiwan – was a version of the Mk70.
“The US military’s development and deployment of containerised weapon systems – while framed as equipment upgrades – represents strategic preparation for high-end warfare, which undoubtedly poses potential threats to regional security,” the commentary said.
It also noted that US allies in the region such as the Philippines and Japan had shown strong interest in adopting such systems.
Manila has said it plans to buy and deploy more Typhon systems to boost deterrence, while Japan’s defence ministry said it was looking for a “containerised anti-ship missile launch system” to improve its long-range maritime strike capabilities.
The PLA Daily commentary said the “trend [of containerised weapon systems] deserves a high degree of vigilance from regional countries and the international community”.
