A growing nuclear threat from China. A new report said Beijing is developing a new generation of nuclear-powered submarines and is expected to be ready in ten years.
The biggest concern is that the new fleet will make it much harder for the United States to detect a nuclear strike launched from China’s shores. The new submarines are called Type 096. The report comes from the U.S. Naval War College, the staff college of the U.S. Navy.
“It is likely that the Typo 096 will not only have a better version of the jail three, but will be quieter, and thus even more capable of conducting successful patrols close to China in protected waters, where they can launch these missiles that are still capable of striking the United States,” Rick Fisher, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, said.
JL-3 is China’s latest ballistic missile that can be launched from a submarine. It has a range of over 6,000 miles capable of reaching the continental U.S. The commander of U.S. strategic command said China is equipping its submarines with these missiles. Each can carry multiple nuclear warheads. The missiles are quieter, so it’s harder to detect them.
“This is a very significant advance for China’s ballistic missile submarine technology,” Mr. Fisher said. “Which previously had a much shorter range submarine-launched ballistic missiles and thus had to travel out into the Pacific Ocean, where they were much more vulnerable to American submarines. That’s not the case anymore.”
On the note of deterrence, Mr. Fisher said the U.S. must invest in its own submarine fleet.
“That’s what the United States must do. We must spend more to build a larger submarine fleet as a component of our ability to convince China that today or tomorrow or next week, is not the time to start a war against the United States,” he added.
Experts say countries including Japan and India are putting in more effort to track Chinese subs by sending more submarine-hunting aircraft to patrol in Southeast Asia and around the Indian Ocean.