Satellite images of Chinese nuclear submarine being built prompt speculation of vertical launch system

China is building a new and bigger nuclear submarine with a more advanced propulsion system than its active Type 093 variants, according to satellite photos

‘The deliberate disclosure of the new sub could be seen as a warning to the Americans, who are selling more advanced and offensive weapons to Taiwan’: expert

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A satellite image taken by Planet Labs shows a dry dock in Huludao Port in Liaoning province, China, on May 4. Photo: Planet Labs PBC/Reuters

Published: 6:00am, 14 May 2022Updated: 2:14pm, 14 May 2022

Commercial satellite images have shown China is building a new and bigger nuclear submarine with a more advanced propulsion system than its active Type 093 variants, raising speculation that the country will introduce a next-generation nuclear sub with a vertical launchiing system.

However, an expert said the new vessel could be an experimental platform to try out the country’s new-generation ship-borne nuclear reactors that are designed for future submarines – bigger nuclear subs equipped with ballistic missiles – and even future aircraft carriers.

A new submarine hull appeared in Planet satellite Imagery on a floating dock at a shipyard at Huludao Port in China’s northeast Liaoning province from April 26 to May 3. Source: AllSource Analysis

A vessel was spotted by Planet satellite imagery on a floating dock at a shipyard at Huludao Port in northeast Liaoning province from late April until early this month, according to a picture posted to the Twitter account of AllSource Analysis, a Colorado-based imagery intelligence company.

The picture showed the new vessel, a nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN), with a bigger and longer hull and shrouded propulsion at its stern, intensifying the mystery.

Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie said the image showed that the sub was bigger than the active Type 093 SSN, but still smaller than the 11,000-tonne Type 094 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN).

The Type 093 SSN is able to launch China’s YJ-18 anti-ship cruise missiles, while an upgraded Type 094A is armed with the vertically launched JL-3 ballistic missile with a range of over 10,000km (6,200 miles) that is capable of hitting the United States mainland.

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