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

[ACuriousPLAFan]

Both aren't exactly new.

Previously-seen conceptual models of 093B SSN (top) and 094B SSBN (bottom) stacked together. Posted by @单手搓核弹 on Weibo.

 

[THX 1138]

Most nuclear submarines undergo costly mid-life core replacements after 16 to 20 years. That makes me wonder about the original 093/094 submarines launched in the mid-2000s.

Has there been any indication that the PLAN has provided (or will provide) those submarines with mid-life core replacements?

 

[VESSEL]

Most nuclear submarines undergo costly mid-life core replacements after 16 to 20 years. That makes me wonder about the original 093/094 submarines launched in the mid-2000s.

Has there been any indication that the PLAN has provided (or will provide) those submarines with mid-life core replacements?

Those submarines with mid-life core replacements will be quieter than Virginia class block I. What a crazy plan!

 

[Helius]

Most nuclear submarines undergo costly mid-life core replacements after 16 to 20 years. That makes me wonder about the original 093/094 submarines launched in the mid-2000s.

Has there been any indication that the PLAN has provided (or will provide) those submarines with mid-life core replacements?

Boats with LEU refuel more frequently than that. For reference the French boats refuel every 7 to 10 years or so.

 

[Blitzo]

Those submarines with mid-life core replacements will be quieter than Virginia class block I. What a crazy plan!

Start substantiating your posts properly with some evidence and reasoning, or else you will receive warnings and/or bans.
These kind of spurious dramatic one liners making big claims without explanation, are not appropriate in these threads.

 

[Zichan]

According to the latest report from the US Congressional Research Service, PLAN retired 3 SSNs in the last year (and a good chunk of SSKs). Did we have any indications of that? Or were figures for previous years overestimations that they subsequently corrected?

 

[para80]

According to the latest report from the US Congressional Research Service, PLAN retired 3 SSNs in the last year (and a good chunk of SSKs). Did we have any indications of that? Or were figures for previous years overestimations that they subsequently corrected?

Re the nukes the most obvious conclusion would seem to be that all 09I are retired now. A remarkable if expected step. Re the SSK it would at least account for the 035G passed on to Myanmar. Not clear where the other five would come from though.

Edit: If they included the two Kilo class SSK retired end of 2021, that brings it up to three at least.

 

[para80]

Its worth noting the DoD report on China made the same claim, that PLAN operates only six, not nine SSN, already last year in their respective report, page 52. I wonder whether thats either a copy paste mistake vs the six 09III built, or whether they distinguish between hulls built and hulls in active commission (this seems less likely given all 09III seen so far look pretty operational).

All in all I cannot quite make sense of it. The most obvious explanation is some sort of mistake.

 

[ACuriousPLAFan]

According to the latest report from the US Congressional Research Service, PLAN retired 3 SSNs in the last year (and a good chunk of SSKs). Did we have any indications of that? Or were figures for previous years overestimations that they subsequently corrected?

View attachment 120441

Question is - How did China manage to suddenly jump from 6x SSNs in 2020 to 9x SSNs in 2021 in the first place? While we do know about the sudden increase of SSN construction rate at Huludao, that only started to happen in mid-2022.

 

[para80]

I'm not sure the development of these numbers necessarily reflects annual production, but annual reassessment of how many SSN PLAN has in service. If there's new imagery suggesting a higher count, the numbers presumably would adjusted to reflect that. But thats just my guess. Note the two dips in 2006 and 2011 also. Presumably these reflect taking out of service of the first two Type 09I SSN. But Chinese sources linked in Wiki suggest the first 09I was already retired in 2000 and the second around 2005.

The tl;dr seems to be that PLAN sub counting is a land of contrasts.