Happy 72nd Birthday to the PLAN Submarine Force — This Year’s Guest of Honor: 406, the Xia‑class SSBN

This year’s featured boat for the PLAN Submarine Force’s 72nd birthday is… 406, the lone Xia‑class SSBN. Yes, that Xia.  China’s first boomer, the one that has been “almost retired” for two decades but somehow keeps showing up like Uncle Larry who refuses to leave the family hot pot dinner.

So what’s actually confirmed about 406?

According to yesterday’s CCTV segment, she’s still around, still floating, and still “supporting” the PLAN by serving as a familiarization platform for new submariners. In practice, that means she’s the classroom model, a training aid if you will. The “this is what a boomer looks like on the inside” walk‑through exhibit. Add in a motivational video about the glory of PLAN to educate NUBs (“Non‑Useful Bodies”), and voilà, she’s technically still “in service.”

 Launched in April 1981, which makes her 45 years old, 406 is now the longest‑serving nuclear‑powered submarine in the PLAN’s orbit. Calling her “still going” is generous as she’s not going anywhere. However, she is still physically present, as the CCTV screenshots below dutifully prove. Even CCTV, which normally bathes PLA hardware in soft lighting and patriotic adjectives, couldn’t hide the rust streaks on this harbor queen. 

Net‑net, straight from the official PR department:

There is absolutely nothing happening in the PLAN’s nuclear submarine force right now. Things are so quiet that CCTV had to celebrate the service life of a 45‑year‑old submarine that hasn’t left the pier in ages. If this is the highlight of the year, then yes  nothing to see here. Absolutely nothing. 

 

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Photo of the day: Nuclear Submarine Base, North Sea Fleet, PLAN

Just your everyday staged People's Liberation Army Navy SSBN base visit.

 Just in case you want to know, that is a Type 092 Xia class SSBN.

 

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

January 11th.

I'm not going to engage or fuel the speculation on that happened on 1.11. However, I can offer some recent submarine photos instead.

094 Jin class SSBN

Song Class running naked.  No wonder the China Navy subs are so noisy

093 Shang class SSN

The hunchback of the China Navy, 092 Xia Class

 

 Old Golf class. 

 043 Qing Class

 

Capitalism With Chinese Characteristics of the Day: Another Cheap “Full‑Size” Attack Drone

Meet the Yunlong‑1P (云龙‑1P) — China’s latest entry in the “one‑ton class, high‑altitude, fixed‑wing drone” category. The photos below were taken during recent trials in western Sichuan, where the aircraft operated from a 3,535‑meter airfield and climbed to 8,500 meters without drama. The airframe itself is unremarkable; it first flew on January 27th, 2026, and looks exactly like what you’d expect from a cost‑optimized twin‑boom UAV with a secondary military role.    Those rockets can be "duel used" to both civilian and military applications for sure

It does, however, come with some modern features: SATCOM for long‑range control, 4,500‑meter takeoff capability, an indigenous anti‑icing system that keeps the leading edges warm enough to avoid becoming a popsicle, and a standard EO/IR turret. It’s built for the kind of rugged, high‑altitude environments where manned aircraft is dangerous and expensive to operation. If you’re guessing that “high‑altitude environments” is code for Tibet, you’re probably right as that’s my assumption as well.

What is remarkable about the Yunlong‑1P is how unremarkable it is. It is a civilian drone program by Chengdu Zongheng Technology Co., Ltd. many like it are being turned out fast, cheaply, and in bewildering variety. Dozens of companies of many I have never heard of,  are rolling out UAVs using off‑the‑shelf configurations, low‑cost avionics, and the simple business plan of “build it, ship it, and hope someone buys enough to keep the lights on.”

Some of these drone programs will succeed. Many will fail. But the underlying strategy is the same one China applies to many manufacturing sector it cares about: flood the zone, push prices down faster than competitors can tolerate, and let the domestic ecosystem consolidate around the strongest survivors. The result isn’t always elegant, but brutally effective, and the Yunlong‑1P is just the latest mushroom to pop up after a summer rain.

 

 

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Capitalism with Chinese characteristics of the day: Hawking cheap ATGM (AFT-11E/Red Arrow 11E/GTS9)

 The war in Ukraine offers many military lessons to the world, one of them being that using hard to produce, expensive weapons against, cheap, easy to deploy OpFor in a static war of attrition does not make a lot of economic sense.    Norinco, being a good communist as they are, actually listen to customer demand and the ever change marketing condition now offers.  They are now offering an lower cost variant    of the current in service Anti-tank Guided Missile, called AFT-11E/Red Arrow 11E/GTS9. 

This new missile model being offered to export prioritizes affordability, lightweight design, precision, and resistance to electronic countermeasures (quoting marketing here). Typically, it operates in two modes:  man-portable or vehicle-mounted. It is manned by a two-person crew. The entire weapon system features a launch tube, thermal/daylight sights, a laser designator, and a lightweight tripod for faster deployment time and foot mobility.  

The missile weighs approximately 14–15 kilograms and has a diameter of 140 millimeters; its effective engagement range from 100 to 5,000 meters. Utilizing laser beam-riding guidance for high hit probability. It is equipped with a tandem shaped-charge warhead designed to defeating explosive reactive armor, with a penetration depth of 1,000–1,200 millimeters of rolled homogeneous armor (RHA)

 

Saturday, May 17, 2025

Capitalism with Chinese characteristics of the day: Hawking fiber optic FPV

With the widespread deployment of fiber-optic FPV drones in Eastern Ukraine, Chinese entrepreneurs are keen to seize every available business opportunity. While direct drone sales in that region may not be viable, numerous opportunities exist elsewhere.

Descriptions indicate that models ranging from 3KM to 15KM per fiber-optic drum are being offered, including a mothership variant.

 

 

PLA Army Aviation Update: 85th LH Brigade, Lhasa — Western Theater Command (June 14 Update)

The PLA rarely announces when a new Army Aviation brigade is commissioned, but starting around 2018, references to a “new LH brigade in Tibet” began slipping into official reporting. Over time, photos and serials filled in the gaps, and the picture that emerged was the 85th Army Aviation Brigade, based in Lhasa under the Western Theater Command.  Yes, there are folks on the internet who are tracking stuff like that.  Crazy right?

Early imagery showed the brigade built mostly around Mi‑17V‑7 and Mi‑171E helicopters, identifiable by their 9217×× serials. By 2014, China had already imported more than 300 Mi‑17/Mi‑171‑series helicopters, and the V‑7 variant,  essentially an export Mi‑8MTV‑5 with high‑power engines and improved lift making tt better suited for Tibet’s thin‑air environment. It quickly became the backbone of plateau aviation. 

The brigade’s Table of Equipment (TOE) began shifting in mid‑2022, when at least 14 Z‑10s (serial 9211××) were confirmed in Lhasa.  Picture of the Z-10 (here) By February 2023, the unit also fielded at least seven Z‑8G heavy transports (serial 9218××), giving the brigade an improved heavy‑lift capability for the first time. Then, in September 2025, official channels confirmed what observers had already suspected: the 85th LH Brigade is now receiving Z‑20 and Z‑20T assault helicopters. 

The arrival of the Z‑20T in Tibet is not a surprise as China imported 24 UH‑60A Black Hawks in the mid‑1980s specifically because their engines and rotor system handled plateau conditions better than anything the PLA had at the time. For over a decade since the 1980, the Black Hawks were the only helicopters that could reliably operate across Tibet for transport, rescue, and logistics. 

One detail worth noting: the Z‑20T’s stub wings can carry external fuel tanks, echoing the Black Hawk’s ESSS‑style long‑range configuration. It’s a small but telling sign of how the PLA is shaping its Tibet aviation force with more lift, more range, and more aircraft designed from the outset for plateau operations. 

 

Friday, January 08, 2021

Z-20 over Potala Palace

This newly confirmed 85th LH (Army Aviation) Brigade, Western Theater Command is also based off Tibet. 

Photo credit goes to vincent of China defense forum 

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Introducing Z-20T Assault Helicopter

Another "not so surprising" unveiling at China’s biggest air show in Zhuhai is the Z-20T, the "Assault Version" of the standard Chinese transport helicopter.  

Judging by the exhibition model, this armed variant has similar configuration as the US MH-60L geared to support special operations
 
The front nose is likely be sporting a complete set of forward-looking infrared detection equipment similar to the flying night vision system (PNVS) on the nose of the "Apache" attack helicopter.  In addition, there is a target acquisition/marking system (TADS), which can carry out fire strikes through three channels of white light-thermal imaging and laser.

The Z-20T has a pair of heavy short wings, which can carry large air-to-ground rocket nests, as well as AKD-10 laser semi-active air-launched anti-tank missiles. The ability to carry long-range Blue Arrow-21 anti-tank missiles is also possible.  

Given its layout, the Z-20T is geared to support ground assault missions by specializing in infiltration attacks against key targets, in addition to being a versatile air assault helicopter.