China is for the first time keeping at least one nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine constantly at sea, according to a Pentagon report - adding pressure on the United States and its allies as they try to counter Beijing's growing military.
The assessment of China's military said China's fleet of six Jin-class ballistic missile submarines were operating "near-continuous" patrols from Hainan Island into the South China Sea. Equipped with a new, longer-range ballistic missile, they can hit the continental United States, analysts say.
The new patrols imply improvements in many areas, including logistics, command and control, and weapons. They also show how China starting to operate its ballistic missile submarines in much the same way the United States, Russia, Britain and France have for decades, military attaches, former submariners and security analysts say.
Previous reports had said the JL-3 was not expected to be deployed until China launched its next-generation Type-096 submarines in coming years. Timothy Wright, a defence analyst at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies, said U.S. forces could probably cope with the situation now, but would have to commit more assets in the next 10 to 15 years once the stealthier Type-096 patrols begin.
"Something concerning command authority must have also changed, but we just don't have very good opportunities to talk to the Chinese about this kind of stuff," Twomey said. Two researchers at a Chinese navy training institute in Nanjing warned in a 2019 underwater-warfare journal of poor command organisation and co-ordination among submarine forces. The paper also urged improvements in submarine-launched nuclear strike capability.
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