A shiny new ballistic-missile submarine docked at a naval base in China has been spied publicly for the first time using .
The new class of nuclear sub, called the Jin-class, had been rumoured to exist for some time, but the image recently uploaded to Google Earth is the first public glimpse of the vessel.
For the past 20 years, China has maintained one ballistic-missile submarine, the Xia-class. However, it has suffered from technical problems and has never been deployed on a deterrent patrol, which involves arming the sub and sending it out to hide for long periods in the oceans.
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Instead, the Xia-class has been used mainly for small missile tests. 鈥淣ow the expectation is they will build this new class and, if it鈥檚 more successful, they will be capable of having submarines permanently deployed at sea with nuclear weapons,鈥� says Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American 快猫短视频s.
Cat and mouse
Kristensen, who routinely monitors satellite images of nuclear facilities, discovered the image on Google Earth on 5 July 2007, though the picture was taken in late 2006. The new Jin-class is approximately 10 meters longer than the Xia-class, which was photographed at the same location 鈥� the Xiaopingdao submarine base in northern China 鈥� in 2005.
The extra length has been added to the missile compartment, presumably to house larger, longer-range missiles, says Kristensen. According to a drawing released by the US Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) in 2004, the Jin-class will have 12 launch tubes, the same number as the Xia-class, but some experts suspect it may actually have as many as 16.
It is unknown how many Jin-class submarines China intends to build. An ONI report from 2006 estimated they would need five in order to set up a permanent presence in the oceans.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e very much in the testing phase,鈥� says Kristensen. 鈥淏ut if they鈥檙e able to deploy one of these things then obviously our attack submarines will be right on their tail. Then the cat and mouse game starts.鈥�
