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China Converts Civilian Cargo Ship Into Maritime Directed-Energy Platform With LY-1 Laser Weapon.
China has mounted and tested the LY-1 high-energy laser on a civilian vessel, turning an ostensibly commercial ship into a potential anti-drone and close air-defence platform. This experiment illustrates how Beijing is integrating directed-energy weapons into its broader amphibious doctrine and blurring the line between civilian logistics assets and military combatants in any future regional crisis.
On November 30, 2025, images shared on Chinese social media showed the LY-1 high-energy laser weapon system bolted to the open deck of a civilian roll-on/roll-off cargo ship conducting sea trials. The photos reveal a large white passenger–cargo Ro-Ro vessel with helicopter landing markings on the forward deck, on which a camouflage-painted carrier vehicle has been positioned and secured with heavy chains. This system, until now associated with dedicated military platforms, is being tested on the same category of commercial Ro-Ro ships that China has for years integrated into amphibious and landing exercises as auxiliary transport. The pairing of a merchant hull and a sophisticated directed-energy weapon highlights how quickly the boundary between civilian logistics and naval combat power is narrowing in the Western Pacific. Concern over the vulnerability of slow, heavily loaded transports to drones and loitering munitions points to a future in which every cargo ramp and vehicle deck could double as a defensive node, signaling how China intends to harden the weakest links in any large‑scale landing force.
China has tested its LY-1 high-energy laser air-defence system on the deck of a civilian Ro-Ro cargo ship, highlighting a deepening fusion between the country’s merchant fleet and its amphibious combat capabilities (Picture Source: Chinese Social Media)
The LY-1 itself is a shipborne high-energy laser designed for close-range air and missile defence. First revealed publicly during the 2025 Victory Day parade in Beijing, the system was displayed on an 8×8 armoured vehicle with a prominent, large-aperture beam director surrounded by multiple electro-optical and infrared sensors for acquisition and tracking. Available open-source information describes LY-1 as a terminal air-defence layer intended to engage small, low-signature airborne threats (drones, loitering munitions, helicopters and potentially low-flying cruise missiles) at the speed of light. Some open-source assessments place the system’s power output in roughly the 180–250 kW class, with speculation that future variants could reach higher levels, and suggest engagement ranges against small unmanned systems extending to several kilometres or more under favourable conditions. These figures remain unconfirmed by Chinese authorities but are broadly consistent with LY-1’s role as the innermost tier of a layered naval air-defence network alongside HQ-10 and HQ-16 surface-to-air missiles. The weapon has already been observed on Type 071 amphibious transport docks such as Simingshan and Qilianshan, indicating that the People’s Liberation Army Navy is moving from technology demonstration toward series integration across its landing fleet. In this role, the laser offers the ability to conduct repeated engagements at a much lower cost per shot than missile interceptors or gun ammunition, provided sufficient shipboard power and cooling are available.
The latest image, circulated on Weibo and other Chinese social platforms rather than through official channels, is striking not only because of the turret but because of the platform beneath it and the way the system is installed. It shows the LY-1 mounted on a large camouflaged carrier vehicle, with the turret, bearing the “LY-1” marking and a conspicuous blue primary aperture, positioned toward the ship’s bow. The vehicle is parked on what appears to be a helicopter deck, identified by its circular landing markings, and is anchored to multiple deck lashing points using chains and tensioners, a standard maritime safety measure when heavy vehicles are transported on exposed decks. Several crew members in blue coveralls are visible along the railings, providing scale and underlining that the test is being conducted in routine sea conditions rather than in a controlled harbour environment. There is no visible additional shielding, dedicated sponson or structural reinforcement around the laser unit, suggesting that the system remains largely self-contained on its carrier vehicle and is being evaluated in a temporary but operationally realistic configuration. This combination of an unchanged civilian superstructure, standard safety procedures and an advanced weapon on deck illustrates how easily a merchant hull can transition from commercial transport to dual-use testbed, while exposing the laser to real-world factors such as vibration, ship motion, sea spray and humidity that strongly influence directed-energy performance.
Mounting the LY‑1 on a roll‑on/roll‑off (Ro‑Ro) vessel highlights a practical approach China may be testing to protect amphibious convoys against contemporary threats. In large landing operations, civilian Ro‑Ro ships laden with vehicles and personnel are especially vulnerable to low‑cost unmanned systems, everything from small quadcopters to one‑way attack drones and loitering munitions, that seek out high‑value hulls. A deck‑mounted laser effectively converts each transport into a short‑range counter‑UAS and counter‑munition node, capable of engaging multiple incoming threats without drawing on scarce missile inventories. Rather than depending solely on escort warships, this dispersal of defensive emitters across the convoy complicates enemy targeting and adds protective layers for otherwise exposed roll‑on/roll‑off and landing craft. The concept aligns with preparations frequently discussed in analyses of potential operations across the Taiwan Strait, where civilian tonnage is expected to augment amphibious lift and therefore would require organic defenses against the distributed drone and missile tactics seen in recent conflicts.
The test also sits squarely within a broader pattern of civil–military fusion at sea. For more than a decade, Chinese authorities have integrated commercial ferries and Ro-Ro ships into exercises involving beach landings, rapid loading and unloading of armoured vehicles, and long-range troop movements. Some of these vessels have reportedly undergone structural modifications to strengthen decks and ramps for heavy military loads. Using a civilian Ro-Ro as a platform for a high-energy laser is consistent with these earlier activities, but it pushes the logic further: the ship ceases to be merely a logistics enabler and becomes a potential combat platform, yet still sails under a civilian appearance in peacetime. This ambiguity raises questions under the laws of armed conflict, particularly the principle of distinction between civilian and military objects, and it complicates the decision-making of foreign commanders who must assess whether an apparently commercial vessel approaching a contested area is in fact equipped with high-end weaponry. At the same time, from Beijing’s perspective, such dual-use configurations increase flexibility in crisis, allow rapid surge mobilisation of the merchant fleet and create additional options for signalling and pressure short of open conflict.
On the technological and strategic fronts, the LY-1 Ro-Ro trials highlight how directed-energy systems are transitioning from experimental concepts to practical tools for maritime power projection. China already deploys other laser systems for land-based counter-drone missions, while multiple navies are evaluating high-energy lasers on destroyers and patrol vessels to address unmanned aerial vehicles and small craft. In this broader context, LY-1 is seen by many analysts not only as an effort to keep pace with developments like the U.S. Navy’s HELIOS, but also to shape emerging naval-laser concepts, advancing them from primary combatants to auxiliary platforms and, over time, potentially into wider segments of the merchant fleet. If these sea trials prove the system’s performance, regional navies may increasingly contend with the possibility that any Chinese Ro-Ro nearing a flashpoint could contribute to local air defense and sensor disruption, even in the absence of visible missile launchers on deck. Such a development narrows the traditional margin of safety for forces targeting logistics shipments and complicates planning for interdiction campaigns that rely on striking unprotected transports.
The appearance of LY-1 on a civilian Ro-Ro thus represents more than a novel test shot; it is an experiment in rewiring the architecture of amphibious power, embedding laser-based air defence directly into those transport platforms that are both indispensable and most exposed. By blending commercial hulls, directed-energy technology and a doctrine built around massed landing operations, China signals that future maritime crises in the Western Pacific could involve not only missiles and aircraft but also merchant vessels capable of silently burning incoming threats from the sky. For regional defence planners, the presence of such a system on a civilian hull is not simply a technological milestone, but a warning that convoy defence, civil shipping and escalation dynamics in any future crisis are now more tightly connected than ever.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.