It’s well known that Chinese PLA official promotional videos often hide many surprises, so what surprises can we see in this “Hidden in the Deep Sea”? Let’s follow the plot of this promotional video and go through it step by step.
The protagonist of the promotional video is the Type 039B conventional-powered submarine, one of the most advanced conventional-powered submarines in the PLA Navy’s current inventory. The film begins with tense scenes of the submarine conducting damage control training underwater. A few sentences stand out, leaving a deep impression: “In this deep sea, we are a whole, a part of the submarine.” “Apart from being alive or dead, there is no third option for us submariners.”
These sentences vividly reflect the uniqueness of submarine forces. Unlike ground forces that can retreat as needed, or air force pilots who can parachute when necessary, or sailors on surface ships who can escape, submarines in the deep sea are essentially in isolation. All personnel on board are a true community, and if something happens to the submarine, in most cases, the crew either survives together or perishes together. Although modern submarines are also trying to change this situation, including equipping submarines with escape pods and other equipment, overall, the problem of difficulty in escaping from deep-sea submarines has not been fundamentally solved. This, in turn, shapes the unique unity and resilience of submarine forces.
Next is the intense red-blue confrontation exercise. The most shocking aspect of this confrontation is that the main force involved is the carrier battle groups from both sides! This is also the first time that the Chinese Navy has officially announced a “carrier confrontation” exercise – evidently, both of the PLA Navy’s active carriers, the Liaoning and the Shandong, participated, making it truly massive.
As a member of the red team, the submarine secretly sets out to conduct reconnaissance missions. The blue team, in turn, deploys fixed-wing anti-submarine patrol aircraft and destroyers for detection and interception. From this segment of the anti-submarine confrontation exercise, we can see the full elements of modern anti-submarine warfare – firstly, land-based anti-submarine patrol aircraft depart and drop sonobuoy buoys in the target area. It’s worth noting that scenes of Chinese anti-submarine patrol aircraft deploying sonobuoy buoys are not often seen.
From the plot, it seems that the anti-submarine aircraft are deploying active sonobuoy buoys, which emit sonar waves and receive echoes reflected from targets, providing feedback to the anti-submarine platform as a basis for searching for submarine positions. The blue fleet subsequently dispatched Type 055 destroyers, and anti-submarine helicopters took off from the Liaoning aircraft carrier.
Upon receiving the pulse signals released by the sonobuoy buoys, the submarine quickly takes countermeasures by hovering at a depth of 180 meters underwater to evade anti-submarine detection. Because sound waves lose energy as they propagate underwater with increasing distance, conventional surface anti-submarine detection methods are somewhat ineffective against submarines at certain depths underwater.
Next comes the climax of the exercise, with the red carrier battle group led by the Shandong entering the scene. Here, there is a detail worth noting. The red command room reports: “Due to strong electromagnetic interference from the enemy, satellites can only provide a rough location of the enemy formation, and the specific information is still unclear.” The commander then orders: “Order No. 1 to strengthen target search and evasion, and No. 2 and No. 3 to prepare for cover.”
This reveals two pieces of information. Firstly, it proves that China already has the capability to use satellites for real-time reconnaissance of the opponent’s carrier battle group positions, and can still provide a rough location even when encountering strong electromagnetic interference. Secondly, it can send commands to submarines lurking 180 meters underwater to coordinate mutual cover. This indicates that Chinese submarines have the capability to receive complex intelligence underwater and are no longer simply acting alone.
Subsequently, the submarine is ordered to break through the blockade zone and launches an unmanned underwater vehicle from the torpedo tube. Unmanned underwater vehicles have been a key focus of development for major naval powers in recent years. They have low visibility, low noise, and can perform a variety of tasks from underwater reconnaissance and surveillance to acting as decoys or anti-submarine warfare. The unmanned underwater vehicle in the naval promotional video is tethered, although its range of motion is limited, it can perform a wider variety of tasks.
From the subsequent plot, it is likely the covert actions of these unmanned underwater vehicles that allowed the red submarine to detect the noise of the blue carrier battle group in advance and quickly plot its position. The submarine then crosses the underwater mountain range to reach the designated launch position, ready to deliver a lethal blow.
The main part of this submarine-themed promotional video ends here. But don’t rush, there’s still one Easter egg left – a short, stout-shaped submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile emerges from the water’s surface, igniting in the air shortly after. There’s no doubt, this is the real footage of the JL-2 submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile! (Global Times)