A rare satellite image… Is China preparing a new class of “killer hunter” submarine?

The photo, obtained by Reuters from the US company “Planet Labs”, shows the submarine in a dry dock in Huludao Port in Liaoning Province.

And a report by the US Department of Defense revealed, last November, that the People’s Liberation Army Navy is preparing new attack submarines with vertical launch tubes for “Cruise” missiles.

The British newspaper “Daily Mail” reported that it was not clear whether the submarine was “a new model, or an improvement over a pre-existing ship”.

And she continued, “The submarine was out of the water between April 24 and May 4, and was later seen in the same place after the dry dock was submerged in water.”

Military analysts said that “seldom such clear images are observed of submarines in Dry Dock.”

Colin Koh, a security researcher based in Singapore, explained that there is great interest in the potential emergence of a new class of Chinese submarine “093”, known as the “killer hunter”, with vertical launch tubes.

“Recent images are very limited and difficult to reliably identify the ship,” he added.

The Chinese “093” submarine is a class of second-generation nuclear-powered attack submarines, deployed by the Navy’s Submarine Force of the People’s Liberation Army.