I upscaled the image. It looks like a single hull. But this is nothing more than a guess. We basically can't tell.
09V/09VI (095/096) Nuclear Submarine Thread
- Thread starter Hendrik_2000
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I think it's also possible the 12m hull is actually for 096 and the 095 hull is something like 10.5 to 11m in diameter.
12m hull would be nice and expensive for PLAN. I've mentioned this many times before, but they have a nuclear reactor that's more powerful & efficient than the one in Yasen. So if the 200 MWt reactor on Yasen is capable of pushing around a 13m diameter hull at 30 knots+, then 095 should have plenty of power with submarine of ACPR50S.
also, you can stick 2 additional VLS per row on 12m hull vs a 9m hull if each VLS is 1.2m in diameter. The VPM on VA5 can hold 28 tomahawk or 12 hyperonic fire. That's with 10m diameter pressure hull. If 095 is 1.5 to 2m greater than that, then I'm sure you can do 16 hypersonic missiles in a same length segment. Later on, you can stretch that to 24 hypersonic missiles
Interesting thread from someone who appears to know what they're talking about, discussing 09IIIB and 09V. 09IIIB speculated to be acoustically similar to 688i maybe slightly better but this is about as good as a double hull sub can get. 09V speculated to be more like Seawolf than Virginia, reactor 200MWt = 50000shp+, single hull, 33-35kts max, 1:9 aspect ratio, conformal array sonar with slanted torpedo tubes behind the bow to allow for this, 18-24 largeish VLS.
Of course we won't be able to confirm some of this until 09V actually appears and a lot of it ever.
Of course we won't be able to confirm some of this until 09V actually appears and a lot of it ever.
24 VLS per boat seems too few for the 095s, when the Block 5 Virginias with 2+4 VPMs can carry up to 42 Tomahawk missiles per boat. This haven't include the option to swap the Tomahawks in those VPMs with LRHW missiles, thus essentially turning Block 5 Virginias into underwater CPS platforms which are very hard to detect and track.
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24 VLS that can accommodate YJ-21 (or whatever the ship launched AShBM/HGV is called) would be fairly reasonable, given YJ-21 is of course a much larger missile than Tomahawk, though it also means naturally that a tube able to carry a YJ-21 would only be able to carry a single YJ-18 as well because their sizes aren't sufficiently different to enable multipacking of YJ-18s in a single YJ-21 tube.
But that's not a huge issue either -- it just means that the missile categories themselves aren't directly comparable to one another.
If a standard 09V can carry 24 YJ-21 compatible VLS tubes, that would be fairly decent. It would also enable them to launch larger, longer ranged cruise missiles that fit the YJ-21 footprint in future as they are developed.
And of course it goes without saying that it would be relatively easy to develop a stretched hull/SSGN focused variant with more VLS if it was required.
Also, Block 4 Virginia carries 40 Tomahawks maximum not 42; it has 4 VPTs that can each carry 7 Tomahawks each or 3 CPS each -- meanwhile the 2 bow VLS are not VPT, and carry 6 Tomahawks each.
Of course all of this is hypothetical, and while I do think what horobeyo is saying is interesting, and his information collection and hypotheses in the past have been interesting, it's important for us to keep an open mind.
Yup, you have to consider that Virginia Block V is stretched to about the same length as the French and UK SSBNs! Unless 09V emerges >>120m long from the outset, 24 conventional VLS cells is perfectly fine for a more traditional configuration.
Unless the switch to a conformal sonar was made very late into development, this type of array in combination with slanted torpedo tubes would be a surprise. On Virginia Block III+ and Yasen-M, the mid-ships torpedo room is a legacy of the earlier spherical bow sonar, a sub designed from the outset with a conformal array would likely get normal bow tubes. See British SSNs, the Lada class SSK or the Russian Husky next-gen SSN.
Unless the switch to a conformal sonar was made very late into development, this type of array in combination with slanted torpedo tubes would be a surprise. On Virginia Block III+ and Yasen-M, the mid-ships torpedo room is a legacy of the earlier spherical bow sonar, a sub designed from the outset with a conformal array would likely get normal bow tubes. See British SSNs, the Lada class SSK or the Russian Husky next-gen SSN.
Are SSGNs expected to play a signficant part in the PLAN's underwater fleet of the future?
The Block 5 Virginias are extended in length in order to fit the 4 VPMs, which are meant to increase the missile payload per boat and succeed the aging Ohio-converted SSGNs.
So clearly the USN sees the importance of the SSGNs for its underwater fleet.
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