FAS Researcher Discovers New Chinese Ballistic Missile Submarine
WASHINGTON – Hans M. Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), spotted images of the new Chinese ballistic missile submarine, photographed by the commercial Quickbird satellite in late 2006, and made freely available on the Google Earth web site.
The commercial satellite image appears to have captured the new class, known as the Jin-class or Type 094, which is expected to replace the unsuccessful Xia-class (Type 092) of a single boat built in the early 1980s.
The U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence estimated in December 2006 that China might build five Jin-class SSBNs. The estimate has been widely cited by non-governmental institutes and some news media as a fact, but the Pentagon's annual report on China's military forces from May 2007 did not repeat the estimate.
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For more information and additional photographs, visit the FAS Strategic Security blog at http://www.fas.org/blog/ssp/
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Comments: 6
If you really feel China's possession of a ballistic missile is a threat to this country you should not be trying to put even a small dent in China's economy. While I can think of other reason for not buying products made in China that is not one of them. The more prosperous China is the more it has to lose if it engages in war that brings the threat of retaliation.
As for why China is developing such weapon, I can think of a couple that have nothing to do with the United States and one of them is named North Korea. Then there are its other neighbors that have nuclear capability, Pakistan and India. The mere possibility that either of these governments could be taken over by radical elements is enough to make China develop the weapons it would need to discourage any of nations from making China a target.
Explain to me again why we have the right to be upset with other countries arming themselves but no one has the right to interfere as we arm ourselves? I have bigger things to worry about.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19377175/site/newsweek/