China's Submarine Program Spells Doom for the U.S.
The Next Hunt for the Red October?
Those interested in submarines, please consider these Chinese military brochure bundles from defense expos: Chinese Anti-Submarine Cruise Missiles and Chinese Submarines and Underwater Systems.
China In Arms BOOKSTORE and GIFT SHOP!
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe: $5 Month/$50 Annual (unable to secure a subscription contact the bank for permission for Stripe deposits).
5 March 2024 (Tuesday)
China's Submarine Program Spells Doom for the U.S.
The Next Hunt for the Red October?
By Wendell Minnick (Whiskey Mike) 顏文德
TAIPEI - Though Taiwan has begun sea trials of the first of eight planned diesel attack submarines to ward off the Chinese navy from invasion, one wonders aloud - why bother?
Comparing a Taiwan Submarine (below) with the numerous Chinese submarine programs is the only way I can illustrate the point of how Taiwan is now Fantasy Island and not Fortress Formosa.
A paper brought to my attention this week written by Dr Sarah Kirchberger,
Head of Asia-Pacific Strategy & Security, Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University (ISPK), reads like The Hunt for Red October on crystal meth.
The PDF is available for download:
Just as in the movie, there will come a day when a CIA report on a new Chinese submarine will put the fear of God in a President after realizing that the Continental U.S. is facing a true nuclear terror from the Pacific depths.
The paper, delivered on 13 April 2023, was part of testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission Hearing on “China’s Pursuit of Defense Technologies: Implications for U.S. and Multilateral Export Control and Investment Screening Regimes”, Panel II: Obstacles and Breakthroughs in China’s Defense Technological Development - China’s Undersea Warfare.
The technological gap between Chinese and US undersea warfare technologies in quantity and quality has historically been large, but is shrinking thanks to a sustained effort to overcome remaining bottlenecks. This effort is driven by a perceived strategic need to find solutions for alleviating China’s geographical disadvantages in undersea warfare, which are due to a unique maritime geography consisting mostly of shallow and crowded littorals on continental shelf without direct access to the open oceans - Chinese submarines must transit through heavily monitored choke points in the First Island Chain to reach oceanic waters. This puts them at a disadvantage when faced with US and allied ASW [Anti-Submarine Warfare] forces, and negatively impacts China’s ability to conduct open ocean nuclear deterrence patrols untrailed. In terms of area defense, however, China’s shallow littorals offer good conditions for deploying a force of smaller, hard to detect conventionally powered submarines.
CLICK TO ENLARGE:
