China's clandestine support: Russian tech secrets revealed

Americans accuse China of providing "very significant" aid to the Russian war machine, reports Politico. However, this support is not altruistic. In exchange, Beijing is to receive knowledge about top-secret Russian military technology. According to U.S. Deputy Secretary Kurt Campbell, this includes Russian submarines and missiles.

On Tuesday, September 10, during a visit to Brussels, Kurt Campbell told reporters: "These are not dual-use capabilities." He added, "Fundamentally, they are directly applied to the Russian war machine," referring to the materials that Beijing supplies to Moscow. Campbell emphasized that these are components of a "very significant effort on China's part to help sustain, build, and diversify various elements of the Russian war machine."

"We see efforts at the highest levels of both governments to try to conceal and protect certain elements of this troubling cooperation. Most of these actions have been driven underground," said the U.S. Deputy Secretary. According to Campbell, China may be acquiring technologies from Russia related to submarines, information on aircraft design, including stealth technology, and missile capabilities.

The politician also believes that the new technologies China receives could pose a threat not only to the United States but also to India, Australia, Japan, and South Korea. This situation could lead to "China obtaining greater engagement from Russia in enhancing some military capabilities." However, Beijing denies that it supplies Russia with weapons used in the war in Ukraine and claims to maintain a "neutral stance" on the matter.

"Submarine technologies are among the greatest secrets of any state, as seen clearly in the examples of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and indeed Russia, where these most advanced elements are not sold to anyone, or only to a very narrow group of allies," says Łukasz Pacholski, an expert from "Lotnictwo Aviation International" magazine, in an interview with WP Tech.

"Russian submarine technologies are significantly more advanced than Chinese technologies," adds the expert. That is why they are of interest to Beijing. Furthermore, China has been drawing on Russia for years to elevate their submarines to Western standards. Łukasz Pacholski also points out the ongoing rivalry between China and the United States in the Pacific, with a crucial aspect being the underwater arms race.

"It is unofficially said that the latest Chinese submarines are technologically at the level of what Americans had about 20 to 25 years ago," says the expert. "Such collaboration with Russia is very beneficial for China because they gain access to advanced technologies. As seen in the latest Russian projects, especially nuclear submarines, the new generation of Russian submarines is slowly catching up to what NATO currently has, especially the Americans, French, and British," our interlocutor points out.

"The Chinese consistently crave knowledge and access to technology. Moreover, they can very effectively combine Western technologies obtained from other countries with what they develop themselves. This is evident, for example, in fighter jets, where they have combined Russian and Israeli technologies. The technological race to enable the Chinese to quickly catch up with Japan, the United States, or Australia is still ongoing," summarizes the WP Tech interviewee.

It is worth remembering that one of the newest submarines in Russia's arsenal is the nuclear-powered submarine "Kazan". As we previously reported, the Project 885M (Yasen-M) vessel is a modernized version of Project 885 Yasen, which includes fourth-generation nuclear attack submarines. The unit entered service in May 2021. Besides it, Russia has several other submarines of this type - "Severodvinsk," which entered service in 2014, and "Krasnoyarsk," which has been in service since 2022.

The "Kazan" submarine measures 120 metres in length, 13 metres in width, and has a displacement of about 14,000 tonnes. It can dive to depths of up to 600 metres and operate autonomously for up to 100 days. Its exact technical details remain classified. However, it is known that such submarines can carry 533 mm torpedoes as well as Oniks, Kalibr, and Granat missiles. They are crewed by 64 people.