Man this is a real headscratcher. This development took me completely by surprise, I'm still not sure what to think. I think the biggest shock is that it's been simultaneously produced at both JN and Bohai. This is a large presumably nuclear submarine, it's quite expensive. Given the PLAN track record, it is highly unusual for a first in class to go straight to mass production. Usually they do a period of testing and refinement before committing to mass production.
Further the fact that it was simultaneously produced at 2 shipyards tells us it is unlikely to be a one off or very small batch special purpose ship like Jimmy Carter. If that was the plan then why produce them at 2 shipyards instead of all at Bohai over a longer time period? Is it really such a urgent priority to set up production at JN for just 1 or 2 boats? Seems unlikely. More likely this is for mass production.
So we're left with a ship that is meant for mass production which seems to compete with the 095. In theory it could be multiple test vessels to see which design performs best but that also seems unlikely because these are very expensive boats and you wouldn't build 2 identical test vessels simultaneously at 2 different shipyards, that makes no sense.
So we're just left with a complement to 095? I suppose that's possible and indeed the US and Soviets did similar things during the Cold War. However it's not really clear to me how this will complement the 095. It has no VLS so it's not going to be some SSGN and you don't need that many spy boats. Underwater drone tenderer? I don't know, this whole situation is very bizarre, the multiple construction of first in class boats at different shipyards is very out of character for PLAN.
