Satellite images show Chinese nuclear submarine’s open missile hatches

Satellite images detected a Chinese submarine with its nuclear ballistic missile hatches open while at a naval base with underground facilities facing the disputed South China Sea.

According to the latest satellite image updated by Google Earth Pro, a powerful desktop software version of Google Earth, a submarine was spotted at one of the docks at the Longpo Naval Base on Hainan Island in southern China with at least four of its missile hatches not closed.

The user @benreuter_IMINT, an open source intelligence analyst active on X, formerly Twitter, identified the submarine as one of the six Chinese Type 094 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. Each of these submarines is capable of carrying up to 12 long-range nuclear attack missiles.

Newsweek has reached out to the Chinese Ministry of Defense for comment via email.

Longpo is known for being home to China’s fleet of Type 094 submarines. It is equipped with six 754-foot berths to moor 12 submarines, and an underground base protects them from attack and surveillance. Newsweek previously reported on the base’s activity after reviewing satellite imagery.

In a 2023 report, the Pentagon said the Chinese military — which, with more than 370 ships and submarines, has the world’s largest fleet — is arming each of its Type 094 submarines with either the JL-2 or JL-3 submarine-launched ballistic. missiles that serve as the country’s sea-based nuclear deterrent.

The range of the JL-2 and JL-3 missiles is 3,900 and 5,400 nautical miles, respectively, the Pentagon estimated. The former can hit the US East Coast from the waters east of Hawaii, while the latter would be able to target parts of the US mainland from China’s waters.

China likely conducted “almost continuous deterrence patrols at sea” with its Type 094 submarines, the report said. Meanwhile, U.S. nuclear-armed submarines are always on patrol, making it difficult for adversaries to track them all, adding to their survivability, according to a 2020 U.S. Department of Defense fact sheet.

Collin Koh, a senior fellow at Singapore’s Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, said on X that the new satellite image was a rare shot. This also “reinforces reports of regular strategic deterrent patrols conducted by these SSBNs,” he added, referring to Chinese nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines.

Chi Guocang, a former Chinese submarine officer who taught at the country’s submarine academy, said the South China Sea, where China has territorial disputes with its neighbors, is a good place for Chinese nuclear-armed submarines to maneuver and hide from the US and its allied forces .

He said of the South China Sea earlier this year: “The average water depth reaches 1,200+ meters, and the sea area is quite large. There are many islands, reefs, sandbars and trenches. The underwater geographical environment is complex.”

Beijing has never disclosed its stockpile of nuclear weapons. By 2023, the US military estimated that the country possessed more than 500 warheads. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said at least 72 Chinese nuclear warheads were assigned to the submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

The latest satellite image, taken on December 7, also showed a crane operating over the submarine’s open hatches from the dock. It was not immediately clear if this was a ballistic missile loading or unloading process, as @benreuter_IMINT said in the post on X.

Tom Shugart, a former US Navy submariner and an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, said on X that the presence of a crane and the open missile hatches did not necessarily signify a loading or unloading process, as it could be some other maintenance.