As we can see, the air component of the A2 / AD anti-submarine component, based on the Y-8Q patrol aircraft, is a more than reliable “barrier” that extremely restricts the activities of American submarines within the “9-dotted line” (“cow tongue line”) … This line is an operational-strategic frontier that Beijing has developed to designate the exclusive economic zone of the Celestial Empire in the South China Sea; it runs in close proximity to the territorial waters of Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan, covering more than 80% of the water area of Biendong. The criticism caused by this alignment from the states of the Southeast, in 2013, managed to reach the point of filing a lawsuit against China in the International Arbitration Court by the leadership of the Philippines. Nevertheless, in order to avoid the appearance of the American fleet "at arm's length" from the strategically important defensive point - the island of Hainan, as well as Hong Kong, the PRC leadership will continue to rigidly defend its line regarding the borders of the "9-dotted lines", including using the concept of restricting and denying access and maneuver “A2 / AD”.
Nevertheless, the formation of the "A2 / AD" -beginning has not yet been completed. In addition to the Ticonderoga missile cruisers and the Arleigh Burke destroyers, the latest UGM-109E Tomahawk modification is also carried by the Ohio-class strategic missile submarines (SSGN-726 Ohio, SSGN-727 Michigan, SSGN-728 "Florida", SSGN-729 "Georgia"). All 4 underwater "floating arsenals" are capable of launching 616 KR UGM-109E "Tomahawk Block IV" along the southeastern coast of China without even breaking the "9-dotted line", because the range of these modifications of the "Ax" reaches 1700 - 2400 km. It will be very difficult to fully repel such a massive missile strike using only the HQ-9, HQ-16, S-300/400 air defense systems and electronic warfare systems, it will be necessary to use fighter aircraft and AWACS aircraft. And even such unprecedented measures cannot guarantee 100% safety of the Chinese military-industrial and port infrastructure. Consequently, the PLA command focuses not so much on the destruction of the Tomahawk strategic cruise missiles, but on the preemptive disabling of their submarine carriers.
Ohio-class nuclear submarines are not included in the list of ultra-quiet submarines such as Ash, Sea Wolf, Virginia or Astute, and therefore can be relatively easily detected using Y-8Q anti-submarine aircraft and Z-18 helicopters using RSL SQ-5 with unmanned underwater drones UUV "Haiyan". Destroyers Type 052C "Lanzhou" and Type 52D "Kunming" will also be able to detect them, the hydroacoustic means of which are represented by very modern in-hull active-passive SJD-8/9 SJC, developed on the basis of the French DUBV-23 complex. Considering that the standard French SAC has a detection range of 40 km for sound-contrast and sound-emitting underwater objects, its updated Chinese modifications SJD-8/9 are able to "hear and see" enemy underwater and surface assets at a distance of 60 to 100 km (in the second distant zone of acoustic illumination).
Also, the aforementioned destroyers use a low-frequency GAS with a flexible extended towed antenna (GPBA) ESS-1 (analogous to DUBV-43 or Vignette-EM). Stations of this type are distinguished by excellent bearing accuracy within 1 - 1, 5º, as well as the detection range of various sound-emitting underwater targets. In particular, the submarine can be detected at a distance of 30 - 60 km (in the second near acoustic zone) in the deep sea and about 15 - 20 km - in shallow water.
It all looks very serious, but neither the Y-8Q anti-submarine aircraft, nor the surface warships of the Chinese Navy will be able to freely operate in the areas of the Indo-Asia-Pacific theater of operations, which are far beyond the "9-dotted line" of the South China Sea: beyond due to the 5-fold superiority in the number of AUG and the total ship composition, the US Navy will not give the Chinese Y-8Q the opportunity to patrol the waters of the Bay of Bengal, the Philippine Sea and the Sulawesi Sea for the presence of shock variants of Ohio-class submarines, from these lines, in the event escalation of the conflict, and the strike will be carried out by four to six hundred TFR UGM-109E. Consequently, the only way out of the Chinese fleet is the active use of multipurpose nuclear submarine cruisers with pronounced anti-ship and anti-submarine capabilities, which will hunt Ohio outside the "first chain" of island states surrounding the Celestial Empire.
The required qualities are possessed by the Project 093 Shan multipurpose nuclear submarine cruisers (also known as 09-III), designed on the basis of the Russian Project 671RTM (K) Shchuka nuclear torpedo-attack nuclear submarines. Draft work on this project began in the early 90s, while the Chinese specialists received serious support from the Russian design bureau "Rubin". Today, new submarines have practically replaced the outdated and rather noisy MAPLs of 091 "Han" project. A very important detail is that Rubin's support was provided in such fundamental and vital areas as the design of the hull, the development of CIUS, increasing the level of acoustic secrecy, as well as the creation of acoustic countermeasures. As a result, starting in 2006, the technical level of the underwater component of the Chinese Navy began to confidently move towards world standards.
In particular, the level of acoustic secrecy of the Shan is somewhere between the Los Angeles-class and Virginia-class submarines, not reaching the level of Ash, Virginia, Astute and Sea Wolfe. But this is also a serious achievement for China. The lack of ideal acoustic stealth "Shan" is observed for many reasons, one of which can be considered the presence of a standard propeller open architecture, while most modern SSGNs and SSBNs are equipped with water jet propulsion systems; There was also leaked information that Chinese engineers had been struggling for a long time with the problems of suppressing vibrations from a shock-absorbing platform on which a steam turbine unit was located, along with circulation pumps, a turbo-gear unit and other equipment.
Nevertheless, the submarines of the Shan pr. Proved to be very successful, and nevertheless, they were able to penetrate the anti-submarine lines of the American AUG on a “quiet run”, as well as approach the submarines “Ohio” at a torpedo attack distance. The nomenclature of strike weapons of the 093 "Shan" submarines is quite serious, and is launched from 6 standard 533-mm torpedo tubes. The basis for the destruction of enemy submarines is the Yu-6/9 anti-submarine torpedoes (developed on the basis of the Soviet 211TT1; have a maximum speed of about 115 km / h and a range of 50 km), electric TEST-71M torpedoes with a range of 20 km at 24 knots. To defeat enemy surface ships can be used: subsonic long-range anti-ship missiles YJ-82A (180 km), promising long-range supersonic anti-ship missiles YJ-85 (with a range of about 400 - 500 km and a speed of 1, 5 - 1, 7M in the final flight phase), as well as heavier anti-ship supersonic missiles YJ-18. These missiles are multipurpose and capable of striking enemy surface ships and coastal targets at a distance of 300 - 500 km. In terms of the design and operating modes of the two-stage power plant, the YJ-18 practically repeats the Russian anti-ship missile system of the 3M54E “Caliber” type: a compact turbojet engine operates on the cruise section of the flight, accelerating the anti-ship missile system to 900 km / h. solid fuel stage, providing a speed of 2850 - 3200 km / h. At this stage, the missile is capable of performing intense anti-aircraft maneuvers.
Missiles YJ-85 and YJ-18 allow multipurpose nuclear submarines "Shan" from a submerged position to attack US Navy ships in the Philippine Sea, without going beyond the "9-dotted line" and "first island chain", which excludes falling under anti-submarine missile fire -torpedo complexes "VL-Asroc", and also allows you to avoid detection by anti-submarine aircraft of the US Navy.
The avionics and sonar equipment of the Project 093 Shan multipurpose submarines is at a very high level and is quite comparable with Russian and Western counterparts. In particular, thanks to the equipment of the submarine with an active-passive hydroacoustic complex with a distributed aperture H / SQS-207 (represented by 6 acoustic antenna arrays on the side surfaces of the hull and the main bow SAC), the possibility of all-aspect observation of the underwater situation in the second far zone of acoustic illumination has been realized. In the course of modernization, the submarine can receive a stabilizer gondola UPV for placing a low-frequency flexible extended towed antenna by analogy with GPBA "Skat-2M" on submarines of project 671RTMK. As you can see, the PRC's naval forces have a decent submarine strike component that can easily withstand the US Navy's AUG. The only drawback can be considered only a small number of Shan class submarines: according to official data, there are only 4 of them in the submarine fleet.
Meanwhile, information has already appeared regarding the launching of a prototype of the modernized Shan submarine under the 093B project. The new submarine has significant differences from the first version of the 093 project: a water-jet propulsion device is used, and for the rocket "equipment" in the upper part of the hull there is an impressive "rocket banquet" with 16 transport and launch containers-UVPU, allowing the use of larger missile weapons, for example, strategic cruise missiles CJ-10 with a range of up to 3000 km. Several images of the sub appeared on the Chinese Internet at one time.
Special attention should be paid to the development program of the promising ultra-low-noise multipurpose submarine Type 95. Based on the Chinese sketches, we can talk about the unique indicators of the acoustic secrecy of the new submarine. Here we see the original design of a water-jet propulsion device with an in-hull impeller (multi-blade propeller), instead of the standard annular water intake, there are 2 built-in water intakes in the rear of the sub's hull. This will reduce its overall noise tenfold. On the upper surface of the hull, you can see the familiar mine "rocket banquet" with a UVPU on 16 guides with a diameter of about 1, 5 - 1, 8, which can accommodate up to 3 anti-ship / multipurpose tactical missiles with a caliber of 533 - 670 mm. The total arsenal of only one "rocket banquet" can be 48 units, and there are also 8 533-mm torpedo tubes. The voiced diving depth of the "Bohai brainchild" does not shine, reaching 500 m, but considering the speed of 33 knots, everything is more than positive.
It should be noted that in the surface mode, the submarine will be quite difficult to detect with radar means from a distance of more than 100 - 150 km, since composite / radio-absorbing materials are widely used in the structure of the hull and wheelhouse, and the wheelhouse itself has inclined sides and is 2 times smaller in comparison with classic angular cabin (the so-called "stealth cabin").
The departure of the first Type 095 submarine from the Bohai shipyard stocks will truly be a watershed moment in the formation of a new generation of Chinese submarine fleet, which will significantly expand the existing A2 / AD zone from the South China Sea alone to remote areas in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The underwater component of the current restricted and denied access and maneuvering zone of the PRC will be very successfully supported by anti-submarine aircraft from the Hainan Island, four MAPLs of the 093 / V Shan project, as well as more than 15 ultra-low-noise diesel-electric anaerobic submarines (with an air-independent power plant) Type 041 "Yuan". The latter can be at a depth of up to 300 m for 20 - 25 days (without the need for surfacing), which turns all US plans to "oppress" China in Southeast Asia into a losing game.
