What Is China’s Type 096? Next Gen Nuclear Submarine Haunting U.S. Navy

As China forges on with its next-generation ballistic missile submarine development, Western military powers like the U.S. will need to “rethink” their naval strategies in the Pacific to contend with a largely unknown Chinese capability, an expert told Newsweek.

Beijing’s new Type 096 sub-surface ballistic missile nuclear submarine (SSBN) is a largely unknown quantity, but will be more difficult for Western navies to track, boosting China’s underwater nuclear capabilities, experts say.

“The Type 096 will be more numerous, more stealthy, and may range over a wider area, all of which necessitates a rethink of U.S. capabilities and their deployment,” Emma Salisbury, an associate fellow at the U.K.-based Council on Geostrategy, told Newsweek.

In mid-August, research from the China Maritime Studies Institute, based at the U.S Naval War College, predicted the third-generation Type 096 submarine will likely have “profound implications for U.S. undersea security.”

The U.S. government has previously assessed that China could have up to eight SSBNs, including the currently operated Type 094s as well as the 096, operational by 2030. China currently operates six Type 094 Jin-class SSBNs.

The Type 096 will likely operate alongside China’s current fleet of Type 094 SSBNs, beefing up Beijing’s at-sea nuclear deterrent, Salisbury said.

“While both will be equipped with the same JL-3 missile, the Type 096 will be far quieter and thus stealthier,” she added. The JL-3 is a third-generation submarine-launched missile with an estimated range of more than 6,000 miles, and reports have suggested Beijing upgraded its Type 094 vessels with the JL-3.

This means Western navies will have to contend with more Chinese SSBNs available for patrols, and that many will be harder to track.

“Once these more numerous and more stealthy patrols begin, the United States will need to consider what assets it has in the area – and will likely need to commit more of these,” Salisbury argued. With much quieter SSBNs, Beijing’s navy may even risk venturing outside of “what they consider to be their ‘bastion’ waters in the South China Sea,” Salisbury said, “although this may be tempered by the long range of the JL-3 and the instinct to keep these submarines safely within the Chinese littoral.”

The U.S. Navy may opt to increase the deployment of its advanced attack submarines (SSNs), surveillance aircraft, seabed sensors and surface ships in the Pacific, she suggested. The tripartite AUKUS security deal between the U.S., the U.K. and Australia will also “augment these capabilities,” but the U.S. will be the heavy-lifter for Western underwater security in the region, she said.

Beijing expanding its nuclear forces means the U.S. will be dealing with two “nuclear peer adversaries” – China and Russia – for the first time, Timothy Wright of the U.K.-based International Institute for Strategic Studies told Reuters in April 2023.

“That will be of concern to the United States because it will stretch U.S. defenses, hold more targets at risk, and they will need addressing with additional conventional and nuclear capabilities,” Wright said.

Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. Navy for comment via email.

China’s investment in its SSBN program fits into its “broader push” to bolster its ability to launch nuclear weapons from the sea, land and air, according to the U.S. think tank,the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Experts can’t yet say whether the Type 096 will be more like current-generation SSBNs, such as the U.S. military’s Ohio-class or the British navy’s Vanguard-class vessels, or comparable to the upcoming Columbia or Dreadnought class submarines, Salisbury argued. There is very scant available information about the Type 096’s specifications, which the Chinese navy is “unsurprisingly reluctant to reveal publicly,” she said.

The Columbia-class program is a “top priority” for the U.S. Navy, as a report to Congress earlier this year labeled the new submarines, to replace the U.S.’s 14 aging Ohio-class vessels. The first Columbia-class submarine is scheduled to deploy in the Ohio’s place from 2031, with the first Ohio-class to retire in 2027.

Britain’s Royal Navy’s Dreadnought-class SSBN is expected to enter service in the early 2030s, and they have been touted as the British military’s “biggest, most powerful and technically advanced submarines.”

According to the China Maritime Studies Institute, the Type 096 is likely to be 150 meters in length, with a top speed of around 29 knots, or 33 miles per hour.

Outfitted with “significant improvements over its predecessors,” the Type 096 could “compare favorably” to some of the Russian navy’s designs with its Borei-class SSBNs and Improved Akula I SSNs, the Institute said.