China is building a new diesel-electric submarine, open-source satellite imagery suggested, as it continues to enhance undersea warfare capability against the U.S. Navy.
The discovery was made by Tom Shugart, a former U.S. Navy submariner and defense analyst, who posted his finding on X (formerly Twitter) Sunday. Satellites spotted the suspected new submarine at the Wuchang shipyard in central China's city of Wuhan.
In a report released last year, the U.S. Defense Department said the Chinese navy has 48 diesel-electric-powered submarines. A total of 21 of them belong to the 3,600-ton Type 039A/B and have the NATO reporting name of Yuan-class, capable of firing anti-ship missiles.
The Pentagon expects China to produce a total of 25 or more Yuan-class submarines by 2025. The country also operates twelve nuclear-powered submarines. In comparison to China, all submarines currently in the U.S. Navy are powered by nuclear reactors.
Both diesel-electric-powered and nuclear-powered submarines have their own advantages. The former are smaller, stealthier and easier to maneuver in littoral or coastal waters, while the latter have a long endurance for missions with a sustained submerged of high speed.
Shugart said he acquired an "interesting" satellite image, captured by California-based global imaging company Planet Labs on April 26, showing a possibly new class of submarine at the Wuchang Shipyard, one of China's conventional submarine builders.
The submarine in question appeared to be 83 to 85 meters (272 to 279 feet) long, compared to the 77-meter-long Yuan class, according to Shugart's analysis. He said this submarine might have a stern design in an x-shape, a configuration "not seen before on any Chinese submarine."
An x-shaped stern gives a submarine more maneuvering force and minimizes the chance of an accidental dive compared to the traditional cruciform-shaped design. It also reduces noise signature of submarine where avoiding detection is a key factor in submarine's survival.
Shugart said that the newest existing variant of Yuan class—Type 039C—did not have an x-shaped stern. An increased hull length of the unknown Chinese submarine also hinted at the possibility of vertical launch tubes, maritime security analyst H.I. Sutton wrote.
Vertical launching systems are a mainstream design in naval vessels nowadays. The weapon system consists of a number of cells capable of holding a variety of missiles, allowing the platform flexibility to load the best set for missions.
Alex Luck, an expert on the Chinese Navy, said the unknown submarine might indicate China joins the recent trend of installing a vertical launching system on conventional submarines. Newsweek has contacted the Chinese defense ministry for comment by email.
The Chinese navy is investing in its submarine forces to counter the threats posed by the U.S. Navy's submarines to China's fleet, Brian Hart, a fellow with the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Newsweek via email.
China's navy, the largest in the world by hull count, has placed a high priority on modernizing its submarine force, the Pentagon said in a report. However, "there is still a considerable capability gap in this area that favors the U.S.," Hart said.
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