China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) announced the commissioning of a new strategic nuclear-powered submarine to enhance its comprehensive nuclear deterrent force, on 22 April.

The Global Times article did not reveal neither the submarine’s name nor its type. However, the description that read that it was a “strategic” asset suggested that it could refer to a nuclear ballistic missile-carrying submarine (SSBN). Analysts considered it unlikely that this was the first of the next-generation Type 096 SSBNs submarine.

The period between launch and commissioning of the first Type 096 submarine is estimated to be up to four years and a new design has not yet become visible in satellite imagery.

The 2017 Annual Report to the US Congress on China’s military power by the US Defense Department (DoD) maintains that Beijing’s next-generation nuclear submarine, Type 096, will likely begin construction in the early 2020s, and will reportedly be armed with the JL-3, a submarine-based ballistic missile.

The submarine is a key weapon to the country’s nuclear warfare capability. Only the US and Russia have the real ‘nuclear triad’ (consisting of ballistic missiles, strategic nuclear submarines and strategic bombers), but sooner or later, China will have it as well.

The DoD report also forecast that by 2030, Being could develop a new variant of the Shang-class (NATO code) Type 093B, which would not only improve the PLA’s anti-surface warfare capability but also provide it with a more clandestine land-attack option.