China Reveals Universal Ship-borne Vertical Missile Launch System

China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) has unveiled HT-1E, the new made-for-export ship-borne vertical launch system that is suitable for all types of seagoing vessels, at Airshow China 2021.

Unlike previous launch systems dedicated to specific types of missiles, which are complicated and take up extra space, the HT-1E is universal, allowing it to carry more missiles of many different types. It is the first of its kind cleared for export in China, CASIC told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The system can boost a warship's multirole capabilities in carrying out multidirectional, large area and saturation attack and defense missions.

The HT-1E on display at the event was loaded with missiles including the CM-103 long-range supersonic cruise missile, HHQ-9E long-range air defense missile, CM-802B subsonic missile and FM-3000N air defense missile.

While larger missiles like the CM-103 and HHQ-9E each take up a vertical launch cell, the same cell can be loaded with up to four smaller missiles like the FM-3000N.

The HT-1E is also adaptive to both cold-launched and hot-launched missiles, according to CASIC.