China To Construct New Generation Nuclear-Armed Submarines To Challenge U.S Naval Power

A sub arms race has been intensifying as China embarks on its production of new-gen nuclear-armed subs that for the first time ever are likely to pose a threat to the efforts of the US and its allied forces.

Expert analysts as well as regional defense attaches state that evidence is growing and that China is on the track to have the Type 096 ballistic missile sub operational prior to the decade ends, with breakthroughs in the quietness aided in part by Russia’s technology.

Nuclear-Armed Submarines — Representation Image

The research discussed at a conference in May 2023 at the US Naval War College and published in August 2023 by China Maritime Studies Institute suggests that the new set of vessels will be way harder to track. The conclusion is credible, per seven analysts as well as three Asian military attaches.

Type 096s are expected to be a recurring nightmare, mentioned Christopher Carlson, a naval technical intelligence analyst and retired submariner, one of the researchers.

They are expected to be incredibly hard to detect. The effort to track Chinese nuclear-armed nuclear-powered ballistic missile subs, popular as SSBNs, is among the key drivers of deployments and contingency planning by the US Navy as well as other militaries all over the Indo-Pacific.

That drive is likely to intensify when the Type 096s enter their service era. China’s navy is staging armed nuclear deterrence patrols with the nation’s older Type 094 boats from Hainan Island in the South China Sea, the Pentagon declared in November, like patrols operated for several years by Britain, the US, Russia, and France. However, Type 094s that carry China’s most advanced sub-launched JL-3 missile, are considered to be relatively noisy — a significant handicap for military subs.

The paper further notes that the Type 096 sub will be compared to next-gen Russian subs in terms of sensors, stealth, and weapons. It said that the jump in capabilities would bear “profound” implications for the US as well as its Indo-Pacific allies. Partly based on China’s military journals, speeches by senior People’s Liberation Army (popular as PLA) officers, and patent data, the paper charts over 50 years of the PLA navy’s glacial nuclear sub-development.

It encompasses satellite images captured in November at China’s brand-new Huludao shipyard reflecting pressure hull sections for a huge submarine being worked up. That puts the construction on schedule to have all boats operational by 2030, the timeline mentioned in the Pentagon’s yearly reports on the Chinese military.

The research details the potential breakthroughs in specific areas, including pump-jet propulsions along with internal quieting devices, based on the imitative innovation of advanced Russian tech. Neither Russia’s nor China’s defense ministries have responded to Reuters’ requests for comments. The vessel is also likely to be larger than Type 094, permitting it to have an internal “raft” that’s mounted on complex rubber supports for dampening engine noise as well as other kinds of sounds, similar to that of Russian designs.

Carlson reported to Reuters that he didn’t believe that China had secured Russia’s “crown jewels” — its latest technology — but would be coming up with a submarine that’s stealthy enough to compare to the Improved Akula boats of Moscow.

A Singapore-based defense scholar named Collin Koh said that the research had opened up a window for discreet research assignments to enhance China’s SSBNs and boost anti-sub warfare capabilities.

They are aware that they are behind the curve so they have been trying to play catch-up when it comes to quieting and propulsion, mentioned Koh, associated with S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Carlson mentioned that he believed Chinese strategists would, like Russia, keep the SSBNs in secure “bastions” close to the country’s coasts, using most recently fortified holdings in the much-disputed South China Sea.

References: Reuters, The Jakarta Post

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