Expert: Chinese offensive nuclear submarines can globally track and attack aircraft-carrier formations

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Expert: Chinese offensive nuclear submarines can globally track and attack aircraft-carrier formations

(People's Daily Online) 17:15, October 31, 2013

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There have been several recent media reports on China's first nuclear submarine detachment. Pictures disclosed to the media show drills taking place inside Chinese nuclear submarines for the first time. When interviewed by a media agency, the military expert Yin Zhuo analyzed the combat capability of China's nuclear submarine force.

In the 1970s, a special group coded 09 emerged, which is China's fleet of nuclear submarines. A counter-attack force against aggression by foreign powers, this fleet recently made a continuous voyage of 90 days and nights, thus setting a new record for a single voyage of long duration among nuclear submarines worldwide. As a strategic "iron fist" of the Chinese military, the fleet has an initial nuclear deterrence and counterattack capability. It has guaranteed nuclear safety for 42 years, and no nuclear accident has ever occurred.

Speaking about the strategic deterrent ability and wartime combat capability of China's nuclear submarine fleet, Yin Zhuo said that our current nuclear submarines include two types: ballistic missile nuclear submarines and offensive submarines. The former are the pillar of China's nuclear counterattack force. This confirms that China operates a defensive nuclear strategy and will not make first use of nuclear weapons, or deploy nuclear weapons to forestall any enemy attack.

Instead, China operates a nuclear counterattack strategy. That is to say, only when our opponents use nuclear weapons to attack us will we use nuclear weapons to counterattack them. This requires our nuclear forces to have a very strong capacity to withstand enemy attack. The survival ability of nuclear submarines is higher than that of any other defense unit, capable of reaching 85 to 90 percent. The survival capacities of other land-based nuclear forces are generally estimated at 6.5 percent, or 15 to 20 percent, far lower than that of nuclear submarines.

Yin Zhuo said that offensive nuclear submarines can deter large warships, and can track, pursue, seek out and attack the aircraft-carrier formations of the adversary wherever they hide themselves. However, conventionally-powered submarines cannot do this, as they only have an ambush capacity. Because of their low cruising speed, conventional submarines are limited to waiting for "windfalls". If the adversary alters its course, there is little that they can do about it. However, as long as they can identify their opponents, nuclear submarines can track them globally, in all waters, worldwide.

（Editor：YanMeng、Yao Chun）