For the next PLAN news update, some detective work yet again:
It is about the long-rumoured follow-on to the Yu-6 Heavy Weight Torpedo, reportedly designated the
Yu-10.
It has, more or less, officially began with Bill Gertz usually alarmist, but rather reliable and authoritative article in the Washington Free Beacon about China "Testing a high-speed precision guided torpedo", accompanied with an ill-fitting photo of a Yu-7 LWT launch, dating November 14th 2013:
http://freebeacon.com/national-security ... d-torpedo/
Due to the typical cryptic and inexpressive nature of Chinese military report on which this Gertz article was based, it was largely ignored by the western PLA-Watching community.
Then, in Summer 2014, Chinese state media leaked some pictures of an unknown and never-seen-before heavy-weight torpedoe, featuring what could be flank-array and pump-jet propulsion according to some analysts:
More here:
http://slide.mil.news.sina.com.cn/h/sli ... 9.html#p=1
Again, people didnt know what to do with these pictures and quickly forgot about them.
But now, Chinese military forums are buzzing with people discussing recent insider leaks about certain "Yu-8, Yu-9 and Yu-10 torpedos" having finished their trials and are being introduced into service for quite some weeks now. What makes me doubtful at first is that noone has ever heard anything about these designations at all. But now, after consistent buzzing over multiple chinese military BBS boards, and lots of "Big Shrimps" (Chinese term for insiders/leakers with well known credentials) supporting these rumours with selective leaks, I began digging deeper into that matter.
Coincidentially, Feng, a long-time fellow Chinese military blogger writing for Information Dissemination and Defense News, and who has good reputation among professional military analysts who are often quoting his posts, has written an entry mentioning the ongoing ruckus about the new torpedo:
http://www.informationdissemination.net ... naval.html
In his view, the Yu-10 rumours seem credible, as the PLAN has acknowledged the need for a high-speed and long ranged torpedo that is able to chase down the very fast and deep diving USN Nuclear Attack Submarines, as the previous Yu-3A and Yu-6 family arent all that suitable for that role anymore.
Today, a "Big Shrimp" has leaked the prospective stats of the Yu-10 heavy weight torpedo:
鱼10果然牛啊
低速搜索时约28节，中速40节，高速至少55节……无级变速（不会咔嗒一下从一个速度段直接窜到另一个速度段，而是流畅滑顺的过渡，噪音和排放小）。射程60KM。
典型目标是潜艇、大型舰艇编队等等……
Translation
Yu-10, the next generation heavy-weight torpedo and the successor of the current Yu-6, was long rumored to be roughly comparable to the Mk-48 Mod-6.
According to the big shrimp, the stats are following:
Low-speed not slower than 28 knots
Medium-speed 40 knots
Top-speed not slower than 55 knots
(possibly top speed still same as the Yu-6/Mk-48 i.e. 65 knots)
Smooth, level-less transition to the different speeds, resulting in low noise emission.
Maximum range of 60 km (at unknown speed)
Another interesting chart that I've found; showing the developmental schedule of the different Chinese torpedos:
The Yu-10 is described to be an "optical-fiber guided long-range high speed torpedo", while the
Yu-9 is a "multi-purpose torpedo". The
Yu-11 seems to be the follow on to the Yu-7 as the next gen light-weight torpedo possibly for ASW choppers and the surface-vessel's triple launchers.
Also interesting that it seems that China's current ASROC is actually not designated CY-3 but
Yu-8 (Which was long rumoured to be a new type of heavy torp with a chemical reaction warhead). This would also be in line with the most recent rumours saying that the Yu-8 is indeed that same weapon that we called "CY-3" before.
Bottom line:
After more than one years of rumors and mysterious official chinese and foreign reports on the development of a new torpedo, the Yu-10's evidence seems to have gained enough evidence to be considered a real thing.
As for the Yu-9, Yu-11 etc. we'd still need more leaks and evidence to support their existence before going on...
