Relation between Japan and China has been volatile for a long time now but with increasingly
aggressive Chinese conduct, thing are getting more and more complicated.
In Japan, the consensus has been growing that the whole gamble of engagement with China
is starting to look like it was a mistake.
Their neighbor has not changed politically, nor has it developed grateful or friendly
feelings toward Japan.
On the contrary, it has come increasingly to look like Japan’s worst nightmare – a
strong, Communist led one party state, angry and harboring revengeful sentiments
toward Tokyo.
Most worrying of all, China is now building up naval military assets that look increasingly
like they are pointed directly at Japan’s interests.
The Soryu Class diesel-electric submarines built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki
Shipbuilding Corporation for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) is major deterrence
against China.
In this video, Defense Updates analyzes why China should fear Japan’s Soryu Class submarines ?
Lets get started.
Japan’s postwar submarine fleet is one of the best in the world.
With an authorized total of 22 submarines, the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force’s
submarine fleet is also one of the largest.
Japan builds its own submarines, with the work split between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, both based in the port city of Kobe.
Japan takes an iterative approach to submarine construction, with a new submarine class introduced
roughly every twenty years that builds upon previous ones.
The current class, Soryu, builds upon the older Oyashio class, and the two classes form
the entirety of the fleet.
The keel for the first submarine in the class, Soryu (SS-501), was laid down in March 2005.
It was launched in December 2007 and commissioned in March 2009.
Japan plans to build 14 of these and currently has 8 in active duty.
The Soryu Class carries a hydrodynamic design based on the Oyashio class submarine.
At 4,200 tons submerged, the nine Soryu-class submarines are the largest submarines built
by postwar Japan.
Each is 275 feet long and nearly twenty-eight feet wide.
The hull form is made of high tensile steel and is covered with anechoic coating to reduce
the reflection of acoustic waves.
Interiors of the submarine boast acoustic isolation of loud components.
Unlike Chinese submarine which was easily detected recently , check the above card for
details, Soryu class is extremely hard to track.
They have a range of 6,100 nautical miles and can reportedly dive to a depth of 2,132
feet, or two-fifths of a mile.
The Soryu class features an X-shaped tail, reportedly for increased maneuverability in
approaching the seabed.
This maximizes the sub’s maneuvering room in shallow and littoral waters, particularly
the straits in and around Japan that mark key invasion routes.
Propulsion is what the class is most famous for.
Each can make thirteen knots surfaced and twenty knots submerged, powered by twelve
Kawasaki Kockums V4-275R Stirling diesel engines and one tandem Toshiba electric motor.
Stirling is a silent and vibration-free external combustion engine.
The Kockums Stirling V4-275R Mk air independent propulsion system onboard reduces the need
surface frequently for battery charging and thus increases the submerged endurance of
the submarine.
The submarine can stay underground up to two weeks.
The electric propulsion motor drives a propeller through a single shaft.
Each submarine has an optronic mast and ZPS-6F surface/low-level air search radar for detection
of enemy ASW and maritime patrol craft.
As submarines, however, the main sensor is sonar, represented by the Hughes/Oki ZQQ-7
sonar suite incorporating one bow-mounted sonar array and four flank sonar arrays.
The subs also have a towed sonar array for rear acoustic detection.
The Soryu class has six 533-millimeter torpedo tubes mounted in the bow.
Armament consists of Type 89 heavyweight homing torpedoes with a range of 27 nautical miles
and a maximum operating depth of 2,952 feet.
The standard diameter torpedo tubes, along with strong American ties, mean the Soryu
is also armed with UGM-84 submarine-launched Harpoon missiles.
There are unconfirmed reports that the submarines carry a warshot of 30 weapons instead of the
twenty of previous classes.
They can also lay mines.
The Soryus have extensive active defense systems, in the form of the ZLR-3-6 electronic countermeasures
suite and two 3 inch underwater countermeasures launchers for launching acoustic devices.
On the passive side, the entire submarine is covered in acoustic tiling to reduce both
the signature of enemy active sonar signals and sounds from the inside the ship.
This deadly combination of silent profile and excellent weapons makes Soryu class a
deadly foe for Chinese Military especially its Navy.
Soryu submarines lurking in ocean's deapth will potentially be able to knock out less
sophisticated Chinese submarines as well sink China's surface feet of destroyer and aircraft
carriers in case hostilities break out.