The Type 094 (; Chinese designation: 09- IV;

NATO reporting name NATO uses a system of code names, called reporting names, to denote military aircraft and other equipment used by post-Soviet states, former Warsaw Pact countries, China, and other countries. The system assists military communications by providi ...

: Jin class) is a class of

nuclear-powered Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

ballistic missile submarine A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. These submarines became a major weapon system in the Cold War because of their nuclear deterrence capabi ...

s developed by

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

for the People's Liberation Army Navy Submarine Force. The Type 094 succeeds the Type 092 submarine and precedes the

Type 096 submarine The Type 096 (NATO reporting name: Tang class)https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7860661 is a projected class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) for China's People's Liberation Army Navy Submarine Force. The submarine is expect ...

, which is under development.

Description

The Type 094's chief designer was Zhang Jinlin. It is likely based on the Type 093 nuclear-powered attack submarine. A Type 094 was photographed by commercial satellites in late 2006 at the Xiaopingdao Submarine Base. The first commissioned in 2007 and six were in commission in 2020. They began nuclear deterrence patrols in December 2015. The Type 094 is China's "first credible sea-based

nuclear deterrent Nuclear strategy involves the development of doctrines and strategies for the production and use of nuclear weapons. As a sub-branch of military strategy, nuclear strategy attempts to match nuclear weapons as means to political ends. In addit ...

" according to the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

. They were initially armed with 12 JL-2

SLBM A submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) is a ballistic missile capable of being launched from submarines. Modern variants usually deliver multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), each of which carries a nuclear warhead ...

s; each missile had one warhead and a range capable of reaching parts of

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

launched from near China. By late 2022, they were rearmed with JL-3 SLBMs able to reach the

continental United States The contiguous United States, also known as the U.S. mainland, officially referred to as the conterminous United States, consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia of the United States in central North America. The te ...

from the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

; ranges of over have been reported. The Type 094A is a variant with a modified and improved

sail A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may b ...

. The sail appears to incorporate features from one installed on a modified Type 093.

Noise

The Type 094 is noisier than contemporary submarines. In 2004, a Chinese researcher reported that the Type 094 had an acoustic signature of 120

decibel The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a Power, root-power, and field quantities, power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whos ...

s, comparable to the . In 2009, the

Office of Naval Intelligence The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is the military intelligence agency of the United States Navy. Established in 1882 primarily to advance the Navy's modernization efforts, it is the oldest member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and serv ...

of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

listed the Type 094 as noisier than Soviet/Russian SSBNs from the late 1970s. In 2015, Australian researchers Brendan Thomas-Noone and Rorey Medcalf noted that noisiness and the range of the JL-2 limited the submarine's effectiveness in attacks on the contiguous United States, but not on India.

Boats

Gallery

File:Type 094 SSBN.JPG File:Jin (Type 094) Class Ballistic Missile Submarine.JPG

References

Notes

Sources

* {{SSBN classes in service, state=collapsed Submarine classes Ballistic missile submarines Submarines of China Nuclear-powered submarines Nuclear submarines of the Chinese Navy