Latest Chinese Nuclear Sub Spotted by Satellite

A commercial satellite has photographed the newest Chinese ballistic missile submarine for the first time, Reuters reported yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 1, 2006).

The Jin-class ship was spotted late last year while docked in Dalian in northeastern China, said Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists.

Kristensen, who first identified the submarine, said its design seemed to be based on the Russian Victor-3 model and echoes the Xia-class submarine China built in the early 1980s.  China might be looking to build five of the new vessels.

“The Chinese naval nuclear programs so far have been very, very slow,” he said.  “They’ve managed to get this submarine out, but it’s been under construction for many years.”

The new submarine is approximately 436 feet long and is likely to be armed with 12 Julang-2 sea-launched ballistic missiles, he added.

The Chinese are extremely secretive about their submarines, said Kristensen, and they most likely wanted this one to be seen.

“The fact that they have it and the fact that it moves around, I’m sure they want the world to know about it,” he said (Reuters/The New York Times, July 5).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.