China's Expanding Submarine Fleet

[Lankan Ranger]

China's Expanding Submarine Fleet

There are renewed activity around WuChang shipyard with the launching of numerous new conventional submarines. That got me interested in spending more time looking at China's submarine fleet and how they are deployed.

Chinese Navy contains three fleet: North Sea Fleet, East Sea Fleet and South Sea Fleet. There seems to be 2 flotilla of submarines in each fleet. At the moment, we have some 033s, 035s, 039s, 039As and kilos serving at these flotilla.

 

[Lankan Ranger]

And finally, a new class of submarine was launched in WuChang shipyard near the end of last year

 

[scuthan]

actually the submarine number of PLAN is decreasing from 120 in late 1980s to around 60 recently.

PLAN need a large number of new subs to fill the gap left by the retiring Ming class.

 

[lcloo]

China should replace her submarines on one for one basis, 60 subs should be minimum, 120 would be better. Those Ming class should all be retired since they are old and noisy.

 

[Akasa]

China should stop focusing on diesel-electric submarines and speed up construction of nuclear subs like Type 094-II, Type 095, Type 096, and such.

 

[ZhengHe]

China needs a couple hundred more of these advance submarines to protect it's sovereignty.

 

[kakalalaso]

China should stop focusing on diesel-electric submarines and speed up construction of nuclear subs like Type 094-II, Type 095, Type 096, and such.

China still needs SSK. They can be deployed near the coast where nuclear subs are not suitable.

 

[Dragon Emperor]

China still needs more subs. What China needs in the future are nuclear subs as quiet as USN's Virginia-class SSN.

 

[faithfulguy]

China still needs more subs. What China needs in the future are nuclear subs as quiet as USN's Virginia-class SSN.

I'm pretty sure that every Navy in the world wants virginia or Sea wolf class SSNs.

 

[HongWu]

I understand Type 095 -- equivalent to Virginia and Seawolf -- launched in 2010 or late 2009. We might get photos or official confirmation this year or next.

Type 093 (upgraded) in 2010 sneaked pass Japan's SOSUS and made its presence known around Guam. It was rumored Type 094 also went far to the Eastern Pacific....

With the new diesel-electric submarine (successor to Yuan), PLAN sub forces are in good shape to deal with both JMSDF and USN.

 

[Akasa]

I understand Type 095 -- equivalent to Virginia and Seawolf -- launched in 2010 or late 2009. We might get photos or official confirmation this year or next.

Type 093 (upgraded) in 2010 sneaked pass Japan's SOSUS and made its presence known around Guam. It was rumored Type 094 also went far to the Eastern Pacific....

With the new diesel-electric submarine (successor to Yuan), PLAN sub forces are in good shape to deal with both JMSDF and USN.

You forgot about the Type 094-II (16 missiles) (2010) and the Type 096 (24 missiles)

There is also reports about a Type 097 cruise missile submarine in construction.

 

[Thomas]

I understand Type 095 -- equivalent to Virginia and Seawolf -- launched in 2010 or late 2009. We might get photos or official confirmation this year or next.

Type 093 (upgraded) in 2010 sneaked pass Japan's SOSUS and made its presence known around Guam. It was rumored Type 094 also went far to the Eastern Pacific....

With the new diesel-electric submarine (successor to Yuan), PLAN sub forces are in good shape to deal with both JMSDF and USN.

" The Type 095's acoustical signature is estimated to be superior to Soviet-era Victor III (Project 671RTM) submarines but inferior to Akula I (Project 971) submarines initially introduced in the late 1980s"


Type 095 submarine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[HongWu]

^ There's no basis to those statements.

Chinese subs already penetrated SOSUS and now patrol around Guam or even further east across Pacific. US has already been spooked many times by PLAN nuclear subs making their presence known in unexpected ways.

 

[faithfulguy]

I understand Type 095 -- equivalent to Virginia and Seawolf -- launched in 2010 or late 2009. We might get photos or official confirmation this year or next.

Type 093 (upgraded) in 2010 sneaked pass Japan's SOSUS and made its presence known around Guam. It was rumored Type 094 also went far to the Eastern Pacific....

With the new diesel-electric submarine (successor to Yuan), PLAN sub forces are in good shape to deal with both JMSDF and USN.

I believe that China should develop a sub that is comparable to a Los Angeles Class SSN before comparing with a Virginia class sub.

 

[Thomas]

^ There's no basis to those statements.

Chinese subs already penetrated SOSUS and now patrol around Guam or even further east across Pacific. US has already been spooked many times by PLAN nuclear subs making their presence known in unexpected ways.

The sosus networks are not what they used to be. only a few are actually active now.

SOSUS The "Secret Weapon" of Undersea Surveillance

"Today, while the Navy maintains a number of SOSUS arrays in either operational or standby status, only three shore facilities at Dam Neck, Virginia, Whidbey Island, Washington, and St. Mawgan, United Kingdom8 – remain to process their dwindling output. With few possibly-hostile, nuclear-powered submarines still operating at sea and modern, quiet, diesel-electric boats essentially undetectable at long range by passive means, there’s not a lot to listen for anymore, and targets of potential interest are rare. However, several existing arrays have achieved well-publicized successes in peacetime pursuits such as tracking migrating whales and detecting illegal driftnet fishing on the high seas. Moreover, as the Navy explores the use of low-frequency active (LFA) acoustics for detecting and tracking quiet submarines in the future, both the fixed arrays and the remaining SURTASS ships may well play an important role as adjunct or bi-static receiving sites."