China has purchased six project 636 Kilo sumarines from Russia. These sumbarines are one of the quietest conentional diesel submarines inth world. The purchase is in response to the sale of eight subs to Taiwan. 4 other Kilo subs have been purchased a few years back, the first arriving in 1997. 2 of these are 636 while the other 2 are 877 EKM which are less advanced. It is reported that the subs will be armed with new Club series (3M54E, range 300km at Mach 0.8) SLCMs from Russia. These subs will replace old and obsolete Ming and Romeo class subs. These subs are defintely going to give the Taiwanese navy a run of their lives!!! However i have read from sources that the Russians sell inferior equipment to China. These subs are defintely not going to be as advanced as those opperated by the Russian navy. Anyway, what is the PLAN going to do with their new small numbers of Song SSKs?
1)Picture of Kilo 636 in PLAN service
2)Picture of less advanced 877 EKM Kilo
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June 13, 2002 at 4:19 pm