On 16 July 2013, I revealed for the first time in my article “China Developing Super Quiet and Fast Strategic Nuclear Submarines” some information about China’s nuclear submarines based on a report in a pro-Beijing Hong Kong magazine.
The magazine said that China’s third generation of nuclear submarines had long been in service and gave the submarines the codenames of Types 095 and 096.
Those codenames are certainly not official, as so far there has not been any official news about them.
I later published at my websites quite a few articles about China’s nuclear submarines, including one on China’s success in developing its fourth-generation nuclear submarine. This was based on the speech of a Chinese provincial-level official.
However, there has never been official revelation of the codenames of China’s advanced nuclear submarines.
Recently, Taiwan’s Defence International magazine published a satellite photo of two of China’s newest nuclear submarines taken by Google map. The photo shows that by December 2014, China’s Hulu Island Shipyard had completed the construction of two Type 093G2 nuclear submarines. Yesterday, the website of Taiwan’s Defence Ministry confirmed Defence International’s report in its website.
The website says that the three new submarines are the second modified version of the Type 093 installed with a new generation of nuclear reactors that lag only a little behind the best of its US counterparts. It gives the submarine the codename 093G2, as there has been a preceding modified version that it refers to as the 093G1 with low noise that the US cannot trace.
The two are perhaps the the the Type 095 mentioned in the above-mentioned articles of mine that the US has so far been unable to detect.
The Type 093G2 will be even harder to detect and trace. According to Western standards, the 093G2 can be regarded as a three and half generation nuclear submarine.
The new reactor will be more powerful to enhance the submarine’s manoeuvrability.
The great new development in the 093G2 is its vertical launch system (VSL). From the Google map photo, only three units of VSL can be seen behind the sail hull of the submarine.
There may be 12 to 24 VSL tubes for launching YJ-18 anti-ship missiles and anti-ground cruise missiles.
Coordinated with other cruise missiles from aircraft and warships, the YJ-18s can be launched simultaneously for saturation attack on an aircraft carrier.
The installation of VSL makes the submarine a multifunctional one with anti-submarine, anti-ship and ground attack capabilities.
Source: Website of Taiwanese Defence Ministry “Taiwanese Defence Ministry confirms media report on PLA’s new type of nuclear submarines” (summary by Chan Kai Yee based on the report in Chinese)
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