The uncertain nuclear submarine competition
The U.S. Navy recently signed a $9.47 billion contract with General Electric Ships to pay for the entire cost of the U.S. Navy’s first Columbia -class strategic ballistic nuclear submarine, and Advance payment for the second ship.
According to the plan of the U.S. Navy, the Columbia-class nuclear submarine will start construction in 2020 at a rate of one per year. A total of 12 ships will be built. The first submarine, , will be launched in 2027 and officially commissioned in 2031.
This Columbia class finally stepped down from the blueprint and started the road of construction, and the United States has officially opened the prelude to the construction of the next generation of nuclear submarines. At present, except for the completion of 4 triumphal class strategic nuclear submarines in this century, Outside of France, countries with strategic nuclear submarines have more or less started the development of a new generation of nuclear submarines.
Among these, Russia has made the fastest progress. The new generation of 955 type strategic nuclear submarines are all in service, and the improved 955A type has also started 5 ships.
China has not fallen behind either. After six Type 094 strategic nuclear submarines have been successively served in the Navy's North Sea and South China Sea fleets, the development of the next generation of models has begun.
Britain has not stopped, and the successor class has already started related design work.
However, the research and development goals of various countries are different. The United Kingdom and the United States are more inclined to simply upgrade, while China and Russia have their own considerations.
Let’s talk about Russia first. The main reason for Russia’s triumphant advancement in strategic nuclear submarines is the Soviet Union’s historical legacy. Due to its backward technology in submarine-launched solid-fuel missiles, the Soviet Union can only rely on liquid-fuel missile submarines to maintain its basics. Strategic nuclear deterrence . Although the Typhoon class uses missiles, the performance of the missiles is not ideal, the size is too large, and the cost-effectiveness is very low. Therefore, the newly born Russia urgently needs a new strategic nuclear submarine that can use solid-fuel ballistic missiles. Old submarine.
China’s complex situation
China’s situation is much more complicated. For geographic reasons, both the United States and Russia’s missiles can launch nuclear missiles at each other’s nearby waters, even if they want to cover all of the other’s territory, missiles are required. The firing range is only about 8000-10000 kilometers. In comparison, China is in a lot of trouble. If you want to use missiles with a range of more than 8,000 kilometers to attack the United States, you must first cross the chain of islands set up by the United States around China, enter the Pacific Ocean, and launch attacks from this place. Knowing that it is very difficult and dangerous. If you want to cover the United States within a safe range, the range of the missile must exceed 14,000 kilometers. Z5z
is precisely because of this, the Chinese Navy’s strategic missile nuclear submarine has higher range requirements for submarine-launched ballistic missiles, but now from a global perspective, China’s nuclear submarine technology is not at the top level.
Although the submarine projectile technology can partially compensate for this shortcoming, due to the needs of real military struggle and strategic nuclear deterrence, China must accelerate iterative development in this field, gradually approaching the international top level, and meet national needs.
The Type 094 strategic missile nuclear submarine currently in service by the Chinese Navy was initially equipped with the Julang-2 missile with a range of about 8000 kilometers. Then, on this basis, the improved and developed Julang-3, a strategic nuclear submarine with a further range. The deterrence force is further, and the new generation of submarine-launched ballistic missiles under development are more advanced. According to military experts, its range can fully meet the needs of attacks from the South China Sea. The new generation of strategic missile nuclear submarines that match it are also In the orderly development.
This time, the announcement of the US new strategic nuclear submarine service plan also sounded the alarm for my country.
America’s nuclear program
However, in fact, contemporary American nuclear submarines have been facing quite embarrassing reality because of the performance of the Trident D5.Intercontinental ballistic missiles that almost perfectly meet the needs of the US Navy’s strategic nuclear strikes, so the US Navy has not been interested in developing a new type of submarine-launched missile . At the same time, because of the huge range of the Trident D5, the United States can use the Ohio class to protect it from the Navy. Attacks in the waters of the United States, so the US military has no interest in developing new submarines to replace the Ohio class.
This time, the Columbia class project was finally launched because the Ohio class has been in use for too long. It took almost 40 years. Several ships that entered service earlier have experienced reactor aging and hull fatigue. Then continue to assume normal strategic nuclear deterrence cruise duty, when it has to be changed. If
is not the case, it can still be used for a while with the advanced nature of Ohio level.
, as a new type of strategic missile nuclear submarine, the Columbia-class tonnage is naturally not small, with a full load displacement of more than 20,000 tons, because the planned service time is 50 years later than the previous generation, so whether it is the ship design or related ship equipment, The level of automation has improved significantly. Another change of
is also worthy of attention. Due to several simultaneous reductions in strategic nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia, the number of Columbia class has changed a lot this time. Compared with the construction of 18 ships of Ohio class, each ship is equipped with 24 tridents. The size of the halberd, the Columbia class only plans to build 12, and the number of trident missiles equipped with each is also reduced by a third compared with the former, from 24 to 16, and the total scale is reduced from the original 432 to 192 pieces. In this way, compared to the improvement of China and Russia's new strategic missile nuclear submarines to their own underwater nuclear deterrence, the progress of the Colombian class is actually not much.
However, this plan is just a plan. With the changes in the international situation, the world’s security situation has become more tense. At present, the United States has withdrawn from a number of important arms control treaties, and the progress of negotiations on the renewal of the "New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty" is also progressing. Very bad.
If the world-wide nuclear arms race unfolds again, the United States will definitely carry out nuclear expansion. As the key to underwater nuclear power, the Columbia class is likely to further increase the number of construction.
is difficult to determine what the future will be. We must remain extremely vigilant about this plan in the United States.
