China Quietly Launches Most Advanced Submarine

China has recently launched what could be its most advanced diesel-electric submarine, according to a report, as it continues to expand its undersea fleet.

Naval News broke the story on Wednesday, but no official announcements were made by the country’s defense ministry or navy. The report said the submarine could be a new variant of the Type 039A/B/C, also known as the Yuan-class under NATO terminology.

There are 48 diesel-electric-powered submarines in the Chinese Navy’s service, and almost half of them (21) belong to the 3,600-ton Type 039A/B, according to a report released last year by the U.S. Department of Defense. The current variant, the Type 039C, has a sail with a stealthy design.

The new submarine was launched quietly in April at the Wuchang shipyard in central China. It was spotted by former U.S. Navy submariner and defense analyst Tom Shugart, who said in July that the submarine might have an x-shape stern that he had “not seen before on any Chinese submarine.”

H.I. Sutton, a maritime security analyst who writes for Naval News, noted the forward section of the new submarine was similar to the existing variant of the Yuan-class in terms of proportions. This indicated that their forward hulls, where sonar and torpedo functions are located, were similar in design.

However, the hull section behind the sail of the new submarine appeared “significantly longer,” he observed. This might suggest that the submarine has a vertical launch system, or VLS, for firing missiles, a new armament addition that did not feature on the existing variant of the Yuan-class.

VLS is a common feature on surface warships and nuclear-powered submarines, which gives them the flexibility to load the best set of missiles for any missions. It is less common in diesel-electric submarines, which are smaller than submarines powered by nuclear reactors, according to Sutton.

The number of VLS cells on the new submarine (each cell holds one missile) could be between four and eight. They might load with missiles that are too large to fire from torpedo tubes, which is the case with the current Yuan-class, such as anti-ship ballistic missiles or land-attack cruise missiles.

Newsweek has contacted the defense ministry in Beijing for comment by email.

Besides diesel-electric submarines, China operates six nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines and six nuclear-powered attack submarines, according to the Pentagon’s report. It is expected that the country’s submarine force will grow to 65 units by 2025 and 80 units by 2035.

Meanwhile, China continues to expand the size of its non-nuclear-powered submarine fleet capable of launching advanced anti-ship cruise missiles, the report added. The Pentagon also said it expects a total of 25 or more Yuan-class submarines would be produced for the Chinese Navy by 2025.

In comparison to China, all of the submarines in the U.S. Navy—ballistic missile submarines and attack submarines—are powered by nuclear reactors. USS Minnesota, an advanced Virginia-class attack submarine, is scheduled to forward-deploy to Guam in the new fiscal year beginning on October 1.