Type 093 submarine
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The Type 093 is a nuclear powered attack submarine class (it is also referred to by the NATO reporting name Shang-class) deployed by the Chinese navy, the PLAN. These boats are expected to replace the older Type 091 (Han-class) SSNs currently in service. It will be armed with various torpedoes, anti-ship missiles and is most likely to carry submarine launched land attack cruise missiles. It is alleged to be comparable in performance to third-generation Victor class submarines.
The lead boat in this class was launched in 2002. It is thought to have a seven-blade asymmetric propeller. Construction of the Type 093 submarines is being conducted at the Bohai Shipyard in Huludao. Six to eight boats are expected to be built. A follow-on design to Type 093 called Type 095 is also under development.
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[edit] Program
China’s new generation nuclear submarine program can be dated back to the early 1980s, when the PLA Navy issued the requirement for a new nuclear attack submarine (SSN) as the successor to its first-generation Type 091 (NATO codename: Han class) nuclear attack submarine. The submarine development programme, codenamed Type 093, was officially approved by the PLA leaders in July 1983. However, the development programme only made very limited progress in its early stage due to enormous technical difficulties, especially the nuclear reactor and onboard weapon systems.
The Type 093 was outperformed by the existing Western and Soviet nuclear submarines even before its blueprint could be finished. As a result, the submarine design team had to give up the original design to meet the revised requirements from the PLA Navy. The development was suspended until the mid-1990s, when St. Petersburg-based Rubin Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering began to assist the Chinese design team in the Type 093 development. The Russian involvement in the programme has played an important role in reviving the Type 093 project, which finally made to the construction stage in the late 1990s. Exactly how much help the Chinese design team had received from Rubin Design Bureau is unknown, but it could potentially include a range of critical assistance, such as overall hull design, engine and machinery quieting, combat system design, and weapon system and countermeasures outfit. The revised Type 093 design is said to be of heavy Russian influence, with its general performance comparable to that of the Russian Victor-III class SSN originally introduced in the late 1970s by the Soviet navy. The U.S. Navy intelligence and Pentagon predicted that the PLA Navy would have around 3~4 Type 093 submarines by 2010, other sources suggested that eventual production could reach 6 to 8 units. The exact number to be built may well depend on the results of the ongoing sea trial for the first hull, which has been carried out at the PLA Navy’s Huludao submarine base since 2003.
[edit] Design
The Type 093 is estimated to be 6,000~7,000t displacement when dived. If the submarine matches or exceeds the Russian Victor III class in performance, it would represent a significant advance in the PLA’s SSN technology over its first-generation Type 091 Han class. The Victor III class is rated as quiet as the U.S. 688 (Los Angeles) class SSN, and uses sophisticated sonar system, to include bow, flank-mounted and towed sonar arrays. The Victor III is reported to have a max dive depth of 400~600m, and the Type 093 is expected to be able to reach the same depth. As many of 10 ships are projected by 2010.
[edit] Weapons
The Type 093 is expected to be armed with 533mm and 650mm torpedo tubes that will launch Russian or indigenous wire-, acoustic, and wave-homing torpedoes as well as anti-ship and land attack cruise missiles. This could potentially include the "Club" series anti-ship missiles. The capability to launch land-attack cruise missiles (LACM) would enable the PLA Navy to have limited global naval power projection for either nuclear or non-nuclear weapons.
[edit] References
- GlobalSecurity.org [1]
