A submarine arms race is intensifying as China embarks on production of a new generation of nuclear-armed submarines that for the first time are expected to pose a challenge to growing U.S. and allied efforts to track them.
Analysts and regional defence attaches say evidence is mounting that China is on track to have its Type 096 ballistic missile submarine operational before the end of the decade, with breakthroughs in its quietness aided in part by Russian technology.
Research discussed at a conference in May at the U.S. Naval War College and published in August by the college’s China Maritime Studies Institute predicts the new vessels will be far harder to keep tabs on. That conclusion is credible, according to seven analysts and three Asia-based military attaches.
China embarks on production of a new generation of nuclear-armed submarines that for the first time are expected to
pose a challenge to growing U.S. and allied efforts to track them.not sink themselvesFTFY
But I thought that was the whole point of a submarine
Lot of effort just to sit at the bottom of the ocean.
With nuclear missiles, not too far from US/EU coastlines. That’s an important precision.
China’s subsurface capabilities are laughable at best.
They are decades behind even Russia and pose no real threat to anyone but the same small Asian neighbors they have been bullying for years.
Sonobuoys: “Am I a joke to you?”
