09III/09IV (093/094) Nuclear Submarine Thread

[nicky]

same bow, same sail, same stern; hull sections differ due to different size and number of missiles ...

 

[Tam]

In my view, the sail on the 093B looks similar to the 032, in the way the top front corner is rounded off, the way the base is webbed, and the taper in the back, minus the length used for the ballistic missiles.




With regards to the hump on the 093B's back, I got two other theories.

The first is that it maybe an attachment for something external, with the attachment withdrawn in the not deployed mode. The first thing in mind that can be used to attach would be a submersible.

The second is that it can be used to release and tow something, maybe a towed sonar.

Being used as a VLS is not implausible.

 

[Iron Man]

Being used as a VLS is not implausible.

You are comparing the hump on the 093B to the Arihant, which is based on the larger Akula class submarine, and which doesn't have a hump to begin with, so your graphic is misleading in the size comparison from the get-go. I doubt is even enough length in the flat part of the hump to provide space for 2 pairs of VLS silos, to speak nothing of 2 pairs of revolver-style VLS silos.

 

[Tam]

Here is another example if you want to show a slight hump. This being an Amur, its a lot smaller.






I was thinking that the hump might also be potentially for a small UUV.

 

[kent]

 

[Iron Man]

Here is another example if you want to show a slight hump. This being an Amur, its a lot smaller.


View attachment 46234



I was thinking that the hump might also be potentially for a small UUV.

UUV docking station is more likely explanation than VLS IMO. Notice on the Amur how the flat part of the hump is quite significant and the slope is minimal, while on the 093B the flat part may even be less than the sloping part.

 

[Tam]

Finding where the VLS might be better off from looking at the satellite imagery, hoping to catch an 093B docked and one of the VLS hatches open. I now suspect the VLS hatches might be further down from the hump itself.





Type 032 places VLS on the front, but the 093B's front section looks pretty smooth to me.

 

[Iron Man]

You are assuming the 093B actually has VLS. It may or may not. The claim that it does may very well originate from nothing more than people observing a hump and concluding there is a VLS in the sub.

 

[Tam]

This was probably the source of it all.




Also we do know that the YJ-18 has sub launched versions. The question is which sub is launching it? Could it be a Type 093 or maybe the Type 032? Late end of the last year, engineering team for the sub launched YJ-18 got a commendation.




There might actually be enough Type 093 satellite images, while blurry, to suggest that something is on its back.

 

[SinoSoldier]

This was probably the source of it all.

View attachment 46257


Also we do know that the YJ-18 has sub launched versions. The question is which sub is launching it? Could it be a Type 093 or maybe the Type 032? Late end of the last year, engineering team for the sub launched YJ-18 got a commendation.

View attachment 46258 View attachment 46259


There might actually be enough Type 093 satellite images, while blurry, to suggest that something is on its back.

Picture shows a YJ-18 in a canister, which pretty much proves that this variant, at least, is only launched from torpedo tubes and not from a sub-borne VLS.