Well you are entitled to your opinion, but my view is that the new PN subs will have SLBM capability, and will have the capability to launch CM's either via the torpedo tubes, dedicated VL tubes or MAC's. This decision has been taken by PN.
You left out a critical part of that sentence, namely "
for some S-20 variant" (which is the topic of discussion of this thread). However much you may not like it, this does not have ballistic missiles silos, nor does the S-26 varient for Thailand. Only Type 32 has those, and they go through the coning tower and out the pressure hull bottom due to the length of the silo's, they are not a simple hull plug.
Put differently, a VL launcher for a cruise missile like Tomahawk (length including booster = 6.25m) or Babur (quoted as being 7m incl booster) could fit within the diameter of the pressure hull of both Type 039A (8.4m) and S-20 (8m). For a longer missile e.g. Brahmos (8.4m), Russia's 3M14T/TE (8.9m) and probably China's CJ-10, one would need a hump on an 8m diameter hull or a broader beam boat (e.g. Type 032 > 10m)
You do agree that the image of that supposed Chinese multipack cruise missile launcher you posted is a rip-off from the image I posted (which doesn't mean the Chinese haven't a launcher, just that that isn't a real picture of it)?
Exactly
I've repeatedly indicate my expectation that PN will have submarines with tubelaunched land attack cruise missiles. As for vertical launch, I've discussed what I see in the market. As for SLBM launchers, that requires a submarine alltogether different from S-20/S-26. A 2-tube boat like Type 032 doesn't IMHO make for a good component of a nuclear triad, seeing as it could carry just 2 SLBMs, which is limited firepower, unless each missile has e.g. three or four warheads like JL-2 (but even then, it is capable of hitting at most 6-8 targets). Which ballistic missile would Pakistan put on board a Type 032? That boat with 2x6 or 2x7 VL cruise missiles could also have interesting firepower (12-14 targets). But as I showed, I have good reason to doubt the image posted. As for 4 hull mounted VL tubes in Type 032, I can't really see them on the available images, can you? So, I can't really be sure they are actually there. There's a model that suggests they are, but that is about as far as pictoral evidence goes at this point.
