May 1, 2020

5th and 6th Chinese Type 94 SSBNs Possibly Commissioned



That it is probable China has either re-commissioned its 3rd and 4th Type 94 “Jin” class SSBNs or they are, newly commissioned 5th and 6th Type 94s.

In any case the 2 Type 94s have “upgrades to technology such as radar, sonar and torpedoes,”

Minnie Chan further reports:

“The vessels are revamped versions of the Type 094, or Jin-class, nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) and will bolster the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s underwater combat strength, two military sources told the South China Morning Post.


Another source close to the navy said two more Type 094s had probably been handed over to the navy since then.

...The Type 094 is designed to carry 16 [?] JL-2 ballistic missiles, which have a range of about 7,000km (4,350 miles).

But the Type 096 [next generation of SSBN, under development] will be able to carry 24 [?] JL-3s, which have an estimated range of more than 10,000km (6,200 miles), putting the United States, Europe, India and Russia within range, according to the most recent Pentagon report on China’s military.


In its “2019 China Military Power Report”, the Pentagon said that construction of the Type 096 would probably begin in the early 2020s. 

See the rest of Minnie Chan’s article where she refers to: the Shandong, the first Chinese-built aircraft carrier; the J-15 mass-produced carrier-based fighter jet; Type 055 destroyer; and the new Gaoxin-9 anti-submarine patrol aircraft (based on China’s Y-8 and Y-9 cargo planes).

5 comments:

  1. Minnie Chan's credibility declines when she claims Type 094s carry "16" JL-2s. Photos of just 12 JL-2s on Type 094s are all over the Web eg. at https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/371a8ebfcfd2cb5085f22ab10a636cd1?width=650

    Chan's claim that future Type 096 SSBNs will carry "24" JL-3s is therefore questionable.

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  2. Hi Pete
    Nothing related to this, but suffren started sea trials

    https://youtu.be/ahXGvywEcHU

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  3. Thanks Arpit Kanodia

    I'm yet to be convinced that France's Suffren SSN reactor is operable.

    It is notable that France's Suffren SSN is not operating under its own propulsion even as it enters relatively open waters - as can be seen at https://youtu.be/ahXGvywEcHU?t=50s . It is demonstrably not "underway on nuclear power" as the late Admiral Rickover would say.

    The Suffren SSN's semi submerged condition https://youtu.be/ahXGvywEcHU?t=1m5s may be reliant on its backup batteries.

    All this unconvincing SSN testing comes at the expense of Naval Group achieving the Attack class SSK development milestones that it is being paid by Australia to achieve.

    Regards

    Pete

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  4. This idiotic addiction to LEU is a major factor behind these delays. France could have simply paid the UK to license the HEU based PWR-2 as an interim solution and put the SSN into production first...and then converted the K15 into a HEU reactor (worth the cost imho)

    considering the batch production method adapted by France, any delay will cascade badly. It is showing (also, probably given technological advances may be France is hitting financial limits of how much it can innovate by itself or rather pay for innovation.... only a LEU focused China and the US have any leverage left on this front.. the middle powers incl. new entrant India will have to make progress very slowly to the point being painstaking)

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  5. Hi GhalibKabir [at May 4, 2020 at 1:53 PM]

    Yes France's independent nuclear deterrent policies and distrust of the Anglo country allances comes at the expense of higher cost and delayed nuclear deterrent.

    As the UK's PWR-2 submarine reactor is a development from US reactor technology France would likely need a US licence as well.

    I wonder the extent COVID-19 crisis has eaten into the overall French government budget and how this has impacted defense and reactor development spending?

    Yes the French "batch production" model has delayed the Barracuda program and will delay Frances next SSBN and Australian Attack-class programs.

    Hopefully Russia can keep on supplying submarine reactor tech to India.

    Pete

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