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China maintains a small fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. This includes the Han-class and Chang-class SSNs, and the Xia-class and Jin-class SSBNs. Of these, the Xia and Jin are nuclear capable, but neither were though to be operational as of 2008.
Missiles (SLBM) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Type |
NATO Designation |
Number | Year Deployed | Range (km) | Warhead x Yield (kilotons) | Number of Warheads | ||
| JL-1 | CSS-NX-3 | (12)* | 1986 | 1,000+ | 1 x 200-300 | 0 | ||
| JL-2 | CSS-NX-4 | (24)** | 2009-2010? | 7,200+ | 1 x 200-300 ? | 0 | ||
| * Although the JL-1 missiles and launch tubes exist, they and their delivery platform (the Xia are not thought tobe fully operational. * A third may be under construction. The U.S. intelligence community estimated in 2006 that “a fleet of probably five TYPE 094 SSBNs will be built in order to provide more redundancy and capacity for a near-continuous at-sea SSBN presence.” Whether China plans for "near-continuous at-sea SSBN presence," however, is unknown. |
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Submarines (SSB, SSN, SSBN) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Class | Displacement | Missile |
VLS Tubes | IOC | Inventory |
| Project 629 (Golf) | 2,794 tons surfaced/3,553 tons submerged |
(tests) | 3 |
1966 |
1* |
| Type 091 (Han)* | 5,000 tons surfaced/5,500 tons submerged | YJ-1* | 1974 |
4 |
|
| Type 092 (Xia) | 6,500 tons surfaced/7,000 tons submerged | JL-1 | 12 |
1987 |
(1)** |
| Type 093 (Shang)* | 6,000-7,000 tons submerged | LACM? | 2009-2010 |
(2) |
|
| Type 094 (Jin) | 8,000-9,000 tons submerged | JL-2 | 12 |
2009-2010 |
(2)*** |
* Not thought to be nuclear-capable. |
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