【Military Second Plane】Author: Golden Bomber

Recently, a special submarine left the Wuhan Shipyard in China and entered the Yangtze River for sea trials. This submarine is not part of the Chinese Navy's equipment, but rather one of the "Qilin" class submarines exported to Pakistan. According to the contract, China helps Pakistan conduct tests, and after passing the tests, it will be handed over to the Pakistani Navy for service.

▲"Hanggor" class submarine

The "Qilin" class is also known as S-26, and Pakistan calls it the "Hanggor" class submarine. It is a commercial submarine modified from the 039B submarine, specifically designed for export. In October 2016, China State Shipbuilding Corporation officially confirmed the contract with Pakistan, and Pakistan purchased 8 ships at a price of less than 5 billion USD, which set a record for the highest amount in China's arms exports at that time.

In terms of construction arrangements, China is responsible for building the first four ships, located at the Shuangliu base of China Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Group, while the remaining four ships are built by Pakistan themselves, then the complete parts are provided by China, and finally assembled at the Karachi Shipyard in Pakistan. In December 2021, media reported that the fifth "Hanggor" class submarine had already cut steel plates in Karachi, actually, a considerable part of the construction technology of Pakistan was provided by China. Currently, this submarine is nearly completed and is about to be launched. China has already built two for Pakistan, and the overall progress is very fast.

▲"Hanggor" class submarine

The "Hanggor" class submarine is based on the Chinese 039B submarine, but in some performance aspects, it is even better than the original version of China. As the third generation of conventional power submarines, the 039B has an excellent hydrodynamic hull design, power layout, and stealth technology, all of which are reflected in the export version for Pakistan. However, in the most critical AIP power system, it still uses the Stirling AIP system, but has been comprehensively technically updated and upgraded by the Chinese technical team. According to public reports, its thermal-to-power conversion efficiency can reach 40%, rated power 320 kW, which is twice that of the Chinese self-use 039B. The "Hanggor" class can theoretically remain submerged for 15 days, and in actual operation, even exceeding 20 days would not be a big problem.

It can travel underwater at a maximum speed of 18 knots, and at a cruising speed of 16 knots, it can achieve a range of more than 8,000 nautical miles. In noise reduction technology, it has also improved, using the latest generation of sound-absorbing tiles and floating raft vibration reduction technology, further reducing the noise level compared to the 039B.

▲Sino-Pakistani Signing Ceremony

Among the mainstream conventional submarines in the world, the "Hanggor" class can achieve such performance with a displacement of more than 3,000 tons, which is enough to rank among the top. Of course, the combat capability of a submarine depends on the weapons it carries, and this is actually where the "Hanggor" class is the most interesting.

According to Pakistan's requirements for China, the "Hanggor" class must be able to carry the YJ-18 anti-ship missile. Although the designation is still YJ-18E (CM-302), it must be the full-range, full-power version. As is well known, China's YJ-18 is a heavy anti-ship missile that combines subsonic and supersonic flight. In the conventional flight segment, it can fly at about 0.8 Mach, trying to save fuel and increase range. When approaching the target 10-20 kilometers away, the solid rocket engine will start and increase the missile's speed to 2.5-3 Mach to complete the final supersonic penetration.

▲YJ-18

The export version of YJ-18E has a stated range of about 290 km, but the self-use version of the Chinese Navy can reach 550-600 km, and the difference is obvious. The funds of the Pakistani Navy are not abundant, and under limited funds, they want to buy the original version of China's anti-ship missiles, which is a relatively reasonable request. It is said that China agreed. In addition, Chinese missiles have always had "reverse overrating", and the actual range of YJ-18E is speculated to be much higher than the stated range of 550 km.

The "Hanggor" class can choose to carry 4-8 anti-ship missiles depending on the mission. Calculating according to the scenario of attacking a ship with 4 missiles, it can attack at least two large warships at once. Combined with the advanced electronic equipment and guidance of the missile, it can pose a significant threat to warships ranging from 5,000 to 8,000 tons.

▲Domestic Export Torpedo

When equipped with 8 anti-ship missiles, the "Hanggor" class can also carry 6 large torpedoes. The entire submarine is equipped with 6 533 mm torpedo launch tubes, which can be compatible with torpedoes and anti-ship missiles.

Torpedoes can use the ET-40 provided by China, or the TASCA developed independently by Pakistan. The former is a thermally powered torpedo developed by China, with a speed of approximately 133 kilometers per hour, effective range of 60-120 kilometers. With an improved electronic system, its identification efficiency for ship and submarine targets has increased by more than 40%. It can accurately identify the characteristics of submarine or ship propellers at a distance of 5-10 kilometers through active and passive sonar. It is equipped with a high-explosive warhead weighing 300 kg, which can easily penetrate the double-hull structure of a submarine underwater, and can dive up to 750 meters.

▲"Babar" 3

These are not the most powerful ones. Pakistan repeatedly demanded that the submarine could carry the "Babar" 3 submarine-launched cruise missile. This missile was successfully launched for the first time in 2017. Its appearance is similar to the U.S. "Tomahawk" missile, with a straight wing and cross-shaped tail fin. According to Pakistani data, although the "Babar" 3 is a cruise missile with a range of 450 km, it can carry a nuclear warhead. Pakistan originally had the ability to increase its range to more than 700 km. After all, the previous "Babar" 2 achieved a range of 700 km with a 300 kg warhead. However, in the third-generation product, Pakistani engineers deliberately increased the warhead weight to 500 kg, thereby shortening the range. The reason for doing so is that they thought it was unnecessary.

According to Pakistan's estimate, the anti-submarine range of India's land-based forces is roughly 200-300 km. Therefore, even with a range of 450 km, it is sufficient for "stand-off attacks," launching nuclear strikes against Indian coastal cities and ports from underwater.

▲Indian "Scorpene" class

As for the opponent, the future target of the "Hanggor" class of Pakistan will be the 6 "Scorpene" class submarines bought by India from France. Originally, French submarines were quite good, but India wanted to show its own manufacturing capabilities, resulting in numerous problems with this type of submarine, and it is still far from forming combat effectiveness. For example, the shock absorption floating raft was already built by France, but due to poor technical capabilities of the Indian factory, there were huge errors during installation, leading to the transmission of engine vibrations to the submarine body, ultimately causing large-scale loss of sound-absorbing tiles. Another example is that India insisted on manufacturing its own propellers, but the materials and processes were not good, making it impossible to pass cavitation tests. With such technology, India wants to "overwhelm" the "Hanggor" class of Pakistan, which is just a dream.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7525345785085542912/

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