China and US in silent fight for supremacy beneath waves of South China Sea

[uawchild]

by The South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)

The PLA Navy has dramatically extended the reach of its submarines in the contested waters, raising the risk to US warships, experts say.

As the world focuses on the war of words between China and the US over the militarisation of the disputed South China Sea, a silent, underwater fight for supremacy between the two countries is heating up.

US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said in a speech in New York in April that the US would spend more than US$8 billion next year to ensure it had “the most lethal and most advanced undersea and anti-submarine force in the world”. That budget – a roughly 14 per cent increase – will include spending on the development of undersea drones.

PLAN subs can operate more regularly with the facilities in the South China Sea, such as Fiery Cross, and they will be in a better position to monitor US naval movementsCOLLIN KOH SWEE LEAN, NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
Two months earlier, Admiral Harry Harris, the head of the US Pacific Command, complained to lawmakers in Washington that “I don’t have the submarines that I feel I need” to counter Chinese militarisation of the South China Sea.

The People’s Liberation Army Navy now has about 70 submarines – very close to the US’ total – with 16 of them nuclear-powered, according to the Pentagon’s annual report to Congress last year on China’s military and security development. Fifteen of China’s non-nuclear submarines are stealthy, equipped with quiet Stirling air-independent propulsion (AIP) engines that also allow them to stay submerged for longer.

The US Navy operated 75 nuclear-powered submarines in 2014, with around 15 being the more modern Virginia or Seawolf-class designs, according to the World Nuclear Association. However, it deploys just four Los Angeles-class submarines in the Asia-Pacific region, operating out of its naval base in Guam.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1985071/china-and-us-silent-fight-supremacy-beneath-waves-south

[uawchild]

1. From the OP article...

article excerpts:

Years ago, the US Pacific fleet used to mock Chinese submarines for being too noisy and too easy to detect, but that changed when they successfully tailed US aircraft carriers in the East China Sea in recent years.

In 2006, a People’s Liberation Army Navy Type 039 (Song class) diesel-electric submarine surfaced within five nautical miles (9km) of the USS Kitty Hawk when the aircraft carrier was on a training exercise in the East China Sea between Japan and Taiwan.

And last October, officers on board the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan were shocked when they discovered that a People’s Liberation Army Navy attack submarine had sailed “very close” to it near Japanese waters, the Washington Free Beacon reported, citing American defence officials.

A few days after that close encounter with the PLA, the Pentagon sent the destroyer USS Lassen to sail within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef, one of seven man-made Chinese islands in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea on a so-called freedom of navigation operation. Washington and Beijing pointed fingers at each other for escalating tension and militarising the disputed waters, which are claimed wholly or in part by mainland China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1985071/china-and-us-silent-fight-supremacy-beneath-waves-south