The United States is amassing a formidable arsenal of anti-ship weapons, driven by a desire to deter China in the Indo-Pacific region. This strategy, fueled by the lessons learned from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, embraces a new philosophy – “affordable mass.” This concept, as one missile industry CEO explained anonymously, emphasizes having a large quantity of relatively inexpensive weapons readily available.
“It’s a natural counter to what China has been doing,” stated Euan Graham, a senior analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. He was referring to China’s growing fleet of ships and conventional ballistic missiles, including those specifically designed to attack vessels.
One prominent example of this new approach is the QUICKSINK weapon. This inexpensive, GPS-guided bomb can track moving objects, making it highly effective against ships. Recently, the US Air Force deployed a B-2 stealth bomber to strike a target ship with QUICKSINK during a test in the Gulf of Mexico.
While China may still hold a numerical advantage in anti-ship missiles, experts believe that increasing US production of QUICKSINK would significantly narrow that gap, putting China’s 370 or so warships at greater risk than they have been since before Beijing began its military modernization efforts in the 1990s.
QUICKSINK, still under development, is a joint effort between Boeing and BAE Systems. It can be deployed with the hundreds of thousands of Joint-Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) tail kits already in US inventories. These kits can transform standard, unguided bombs into precision-guided weapons, adding to the arsenal of affordable and effective anti-ship weapons.
The US military’s Indo-Pacific Command is eager to acquire thousands of QUICKSINK weapons, according to an industry executive who spoke on condition of anonymity. The executive explained that overwhelming Chinese defenses with this “affordable mass” of weapons would be the key to success. In such a scenario, the US military would use advanced weapons like Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM) or SM-6 missiles to cripple a Chinese warship’s defenses, followed by a barrage of cheaper weapons, such as QUICKSINK.
The US is also diversifying its anti-ship weapon portfolio in Asia. In April, the US Army deployed its new Typhon mobile missile batteries to the Philippines during an exercise. These batteries, built with existing components at a relatively low cost, can fire SM-6 and Tomahawk missiles against sea targets.
The US military is not disclosing the exact number of SM-6 missiles to be deployed in the Indo-Pacific region. However, government documents indicate that over 800 SM-6 missiles are scheduled to be purchased over the next five years.
This strategy, according to experts, is a direct response to China’s efforts to restrict the movement of US Navy assets in the western Pacific and the First Island Chain – the closest major archipelagos to the East Asian coast. By deploying anti-ship weapons in locations like the Philippines, the US could easily target the South China Sea, an area claimed by China as its sovereign territory, despite opposition from five Southeast Asian nations and Taiwan.
Collin Koh, a scholar at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, believes this strategy levels the playing field. He points to the example of the Iran-aligned Houthi forces using low-tech anti-ship weapons against civilian traffic in the Red Sea, forcing the US and other nations to deploy expensive weapons for defense.
“If you look at the case of the Red Sea, clearly the cost equation (of anti-ship missiles) doesn’t fall on the side of the defender,” Koh said. “Even if you have a smaller arsenal of such offensive missile systems, you can still project some deterrence.”
