Photograph reveals China's Jin-class SSBN

A photograph anonymously posted on the Internet has provided Western analysts with a first close-quarters look at the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy's (PLAN's) new Type 094 Jin-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN).

The picture, taken at the Bohai shipyard in Huludao, clearly shows two Jin-class boats alongside. It also reveals that the Type 094 design is equipped with 12 missile tubes aft of the fin - not the 16 originally speculated.

However, it remains unclear whether China has now launched two or three Jin-class SSBNs. The Federation of American Scientists (FAS), which claims credit for identifying the first Jin-class SSBN at Xiaopingdao submarine base from images taken last year by DigitalGlobe's Quickbird commercial satellite, states: "The image of the first SSBN discovered at Xiaopingdao in July 2007 was taken on 17 October 2006. The new image of the two SSBNs at Huludao was taken six-and-a-half months later on 3 May 2007.

"One possibility," states the FAS, "is that the Xiaopingdao SSBN returned to Huludao for repair or further adjustment and was captured on the 2007 photo together with the second SSBN. Another possibility is that the two Huludao SSBNs are indeed the second and third boats of the new Jin-class SSBN."

Western intelligence agencies are understood to have concluded that the most recent photograph shows the only two Jin-class boats currently in the water. However, they assess that additional Type 094 boats are in build at the Bohai yard. 243 of 563 words