U.S. May Build Warships In Japan, SoKor To Expand Its Fleet

The US is worried that China will expand its fleet quickly from the current 340 even as the US has fewer than 300 warships.

Photo Insert: The US can order ships from Japan and South Korea, which produce superior warships to those of China.

But experts who spoke to CNN before the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore said there is a solution to the Chinese fleet’s advantage – the US can order ships from Japan and South Korea, which produce superior warships to those of China.

Buying ships from these countries, or even building US-designed vessels in their shipyards, could be a cost-effective way of closing the gap with China, they say, Brad Lendon wrote in an analysis for CNN.

Their warships are “certainly a match for their (Chinese) counterparts,” says Blake Herzinger, a research fellow at the US Studies Center in Australia, while Japan’s warship designers “are among the world’s best,” says Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center in Hawaii.

The problem is that US law prevents its Navy from buying foreign-built ships or from building its own ships in foreign countries due to both security concerns and a desire to protect the US shipbuilding industry. Schuster, Herzinger, and others say it is time to rethink that law to give the US an edge.

Western analysts say China’s Type 055 may have a peer in South Korea’s Sejong the Great-class destroyers.

At 10,000 to 12,000 tons displacement, the Sejongs are slightly smaller than China’s Type 055s, but they have more firepower, with 128 VLS cells and weapons that include surface-to-air, anti-submarine, and cruise missiles.

They also cost only $925 million each. Japan has “world-class” destroyers, said Alessio Patalano, professor of war and strategy at King’s College in London. The Maya-class destroyers are armed with 96 VLS cells that can fire anti-ballistic and anti-submarine missiles.

Last November, the Mayas showed their ability to destroy ballistic missiles traveling outside Earth’s atmosphere. Those 96 VLS cells put the Mayas on par with the US Arleigh Burkes, but there’s a crucial difference between them: The Arleigh Burkes cost $2.2 billion; the Mayas cost a billion dollars less.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic