According to the most recent Pentagon assessment of China’s military, China has launched its first nuclear-powered guided missile submarines, allowing it to undertake land and sea attacks previously limited to American and Russian boats.
The Pentagon assessment, released on October 20, provides the first indication that the modified submarines spotted in Chinese shipyards over the last 18 months are, in fact, Type 093B guided missile submarines.
In May 2022, Reuters reported that satellite imagery from the Huludao shipyard in northeast China appeared to depict a new or updated submarine type, perhaps equipped with vertical tubes to fire cruise missiles. According to the Pentagon assessment, China’s navy “will have the capability to use land-attack cruise missiles to conduct long-range precision strikes against land targets from its submarine and surface combatants, notably enhancing (China’s) power projection capability” shortly.
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union produced conventionally armed missile submarines known as “SSGNs” to target American aircraft carriers. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy created a vessel variant by modifying ballistic missile boats to carry many land-attack Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Unlike ballistic weapons, cruise missiles are usually long-range, precise weapons that fly at low altitudes or skim the sea’s surface. The first combat attack by a U.S. SSGN occurred in 2011 when the submarine USS Florida fired 93 Tomahawks against Libyan air defenses; regional military attachés claim that Chinese strategists thoroughly examined this occurrence.
According to some observers, the PLA navy would be keen to use the ships as a base for land attacks and an additional weapon against aircraft carriers, enabling assaults from a considerably longer range than its fleets of smaller attack submarines.
According to the article, the company plans to expand its fleet of submarines, which may include 65 ships by 2025 and include both nuclear and diesel-powered models. Three of the new SSGNs might be operational by the end of the current year.
In response to queries from Reuters, the Chinese Ministry of Defense remained silent. The disclosure coincides with China building a new generation of nuclear-armed boats as part of its growing deterrent force and an increasingly intense submarine arms competition.
One of the main reasons the U.S. Navy and other armies in the Indo-Pacific area have expanded deployments and preparedness is the attempt to follow China’s submarines at sea. The SSGNs represent a significant new capacity for the Chinese navy, according to security expert Collin Koh, stationed in Singapore.
According to him, “this potentially allows them to carry out saturated land and anti-ship attacks at standoff range” with an anticipated cruise missile core arsenal, making China’s adversaries’ strategic calculations more difficult.
“I would also expect the Chinese have learned from the Russian experience in using them to threaten U.S. aircraft carriers – with an SSGN, you can launch strikes at standoff range, unlike a typical attack submarine that could have more limited weapon options, and that is a real advantage,” said Koh, who teaches at the S. Rajaratnam Research.
The PLA was on the verge of making significant progress in making its nuclear-powered submarines much quieter and harder for the United States and its allies to monitor, according to research presented at the U.S. Naval War College in May.
However, a few experts and diplomats stated they were unsure if such innovations had been included in the freshly launched SSGNs. Before the decade’s end, nuclear-powered boats should be deployed with the enhancements.
An Asian military attaché keeping tabs on China’s submarine force stated, “We can expect the PLA navy to be cautious in how they initially deploy them unless they are certain of improvements.” Due to the situation’s sensitivity, the attaché declined to be identified. “But we know the submarine force is a priority for Xi Jinping, which is one more sign they are getting there.”
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