The new strategic nuclear submarine of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLA) is capable of carrying a missile that can hit targets throughout the United States. This was reported on May 2 by the South China Morning Post, citing military sources.
We are talking about the submarine of the project 094A "Jin", which was demonstrated on April 30 at the celebration of the 72nd anniversary of the formation of the PLA Navy.
The submarine is capable of carrying the latest JL-3 solid-fuel intercontinental missiles, the range of which exceeds 10 thousand km and, according to some estimates, reaches 12 thousand km.
"The submarine 094A is an upgraded version of the type 094 submarine, which solved one of the key problems associated with noise by improving the hydrokinetic and turbulent systems. This allowed it to carry more powerful JL-3 missiles, " the newspaper quoted one of the interlocutors as saying.
The source noted that before the modernization, the submarine of this type was armed with a less powerful JL-2 missile, which had the ability to hit targets only in the northeastern part of the United States. Now, its weapons can cover the entire American continent.
According to experts, the JL-3 missile, like its predecessor, has the ability to carry several warheads with a nuclear charge.
The PLA Navy currently has six project 094 submarines in various modifications and is going to build two more submarines of this type to replace the outdated 092-class ships.
In October 2019, it was reported that a submarine was built in China without the protection of retractable devices (deckhouse). Instead, it has a small bulge of unknown purpose.
