BOSSING THE OCEAN

Raman K Sun, 08 Apr 2018 21:24:04 -0700

A Chinese shipbuilder accidentally revealed its major navy plansNuclear
submarines, giant aircraft carriers, robot warships.
By Jeffrey Lin and P.W. Singer
<https://www.popsci.com/popsci-authors/jeffrey-lin-and-pw-singer>

[image: China Aircraft Carrier Type 001A]

DALIAN SHIPYARD

Dalian Shipyard, part of CSIC, is where China's first domestic carrier,
CV-17, was built. It will also likely be the builder for China's first,
nuclear powered supercarrier.

cjdby.net

For a brief moment, the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), put
online China's next big naval projects (but quickly pulled them down).. The
revelation, of which screenshots were taken before censors intervened,
provided a picture of China's ambitions for a world class navy.
[image: Type 003 Aircraft Carrier China]

TYPE 003

This new display at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution,
was newly installed for the PLA's 90th anniversary. While it has
speculative features like four catapults, J-20 fighters and stealthy UCAVs,
the nuclear powered Type 003 supercarrier probably won't enter service
until after 2030..

Oedo Soldier

CSIC is a major shipbuilder for the People's Liberation Army Navy,
responsible for high ticket items like aircraft carriers and nuclear
submarines. The biggest item in CSIC's not-so-secret portfolio is China's
first nuclear-powered carrier. Popularly identified as the Type 003, it
will be the largest non-American warship in the world when its launched in
the late 2020s. CSIC's Dalian Shipyard, which refurbished the aircraft
carrier Liaoning, and launched China's first domestically built carrier,
CV-17, in 2017, will presumably build China's first "Type 003" CVN.

The Type 003 will displace between 90,000-100,000 tons and have
electromagnetically assisted launch system (EMALS) catapults for getting
aircrafts off the deck. It'll likely carry a large air wing of J-15
fighters, J-31 stealth fighters, KJ-600 airborne early warning and control
aircraft, anti-submarine warfare helicopters, and stealth attack drones.
When joined with Type 055 destroyers and next-generation attack submarines,
it would provide the PLAN a highly capable task force for representing
China on global missions..
[image: China Type 095 SSN nuclear submarine]

TYPE 095 SSN

The Type 095 SSN, seen in this speculative fanmade CGI, will likely have
VLS cells for launching a wide range of cruise missiles, pumpjet propulsion
and improved quieting technology. The first Type 095 will likely begin
production in late 2017 at the giant new BSHIC factory, with many more to
follow in the 2020s.

Medico-MAX

CSIC's website also boasted that it would build a new nuclear-powered
submarine, likely the Type 095 nuclear attack submarine (SSN). The Type 095
SSN would be built at CSIC's Bohai Shipyard, which is China's sole nuclear
submarine shipyard. Compared to the Type 093 SSN, the Type 095 SSN will
include new noise reduction measures, like an integrated electric
propulsion system and possibly a shaftless rim drive, single hull, and
electronic noise cancellation. CSIC is also working on a separate 'quiet'
submarine project, presumably to be built at its Wuhan conventional
submarine shipyard. This submarine is presumably quieter than the
air-independent propulsion (AIP) Type 039B Yuan submarine; it'll likely
have quieting measures like a single hull, a new AIP system, and
lithium-ion batteries. A new generation of Chinese submarines could help
the PLAN remedy its historic technologic disadvantage against the
submarines forces of the American and Japanese navies.
[image: China Underwater Unmanned Vehicle UUV]

LARGE AUV

This large AUV, similar to the USN's LDUUV, is used for long term
autonomous missions; its size allows for it to carry modular payloads of
sensors, mine warfare and ASW. It could be the precursor to larger Chinese
armed UUVs carrying torpedoes and missiles.

www.top81.cn <http://www.top81..cn/>

The big CSIC announcement also covers 21st century naval wish lists, like
autonomous robot submarines. This is the first official confirmation of
China pursuing armed unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), in addition to
unmanned surface vehicles already offered for exports. Autonomous UUVs,
armed with torpedoes and missiles, could act as expendable scouts or
wingmen for manned Chinese submarines and surface warships, such as
undertaking dangerous missions like probing enemy minefields, launching
sneak attacks, and drawing away enemy forces.
[image: China Underwater Great Wall UUV]

UNDERWATER GREAT WALL OF CHINA

The Underwater Great Wall may be centered around stationary sensors on the
ocean bed, but autonomous UUVs will be a critical enabler in not just
tracking enemy submarines, but finding them.

www.top81.cn

To defend Chinese home waters and expand the anti-access/area denial
umbrella underwater, CSIC is designing an underwater attack and defense
system. It could likely be an armed variant of the "Underwater Great Wall"
of UUVs, other maritime robots and seafloor sensors. With built in
modularity, it could be tailored to defend naval bases with surveillance
UUVs and counter torpedo defenses on one end, and at the other end of the
spectrum; a networked minefield of armed and smart UUVs supported by
automated underwater listening posts. These capabilities would require not
just the platforms, though; CSIC would need to master emerging technologies
like underwater high capacity datalinks, combat AI, and multi-spectrum
sensors.

BOSSING THE OCEAN

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