A satellite image of China’s new nuclear ballistic missile submarine is available on the Google Earth Internet site.
Hans M. Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), spotted the images, photographed by the commercial Quickbird satellite in late 2006.
One photo is of what is apparently the new Type 094 Jin-class SSBN at the Xiaopingdao base near Dalian, FAS reported.
The Jin-class is about 35 feet longer than the Xia-class SSBN, “primarily due to an extended mid-section of approximately 115 feet (35 meters) that houses the missile launch tubes and part of the reactor compartment,” according to the report.
The extended section is to make room for the larger Julang-2 ballistic missile and may also be due to the size of the reactor.
In late 2006, the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence projected China could build five Jin-class SSBNs. The estimate was not cited by the Pentagon’s May 2007 annual report on China military power.
Ok this is funny, but sorta scary. Want to hide something from a “rouge nation” well forget it. There is always someone’s satellite over you, and most are good enough to see most things. And some of the newer ones are good enough to really make you have nothing to hide. I’ve seen many things on Google Earth and Google Maps, but its got to be cool to find something no one else has found yet.
Click this FAS link to view more in-depth about the sub, and renders on what they think it looks like.
Tags: Google, Interesting, Military, Naval, Technology
