SHKVAL-E Kanwa Photo Via RSRPE Russia

< Kanwa News May 20th 2001> In recent years, the military relationship between China and Kazakhstan has enjoyed a rapid growth. China has started to import torpedo from Kazakhstan. It is through KASPEX, the state-own military technology export & import company that the military technology exchanges between these two countries are conducted. In 1998, KASPEX exported to China 40 SHKVAL-E heavy-duty torpedoes independently for the first time. These torpedoes are mainly used in the nuclear-powered submarines.

The source says that Kazakhstan has an excellent torpedo workshop. Before the Soviet Union collapsed, the general assembly shop for the torpedoes was located here. An approval should normally be obtained from Russia to export SHKVAL, because the main components of torpedoes are all produced in Russia. The source also says that China plans to import 53-65KE type torpedoes to be used in KILO submarines from Kazakhstan. This type of torpedo has a shooting range of 19km, the longest range among the torpedoes that Russia has passed to China so far. Considering the fact that in 1998 China imported SHKAVAL torpedoes from Kazakhstan, and long-range sonar communication system from Belarus (See the latest Kanwa news), Kanwa believes that it has been quite a long while since China started to produce nuclear-powered Type 093 attack submarines. <Kanwa>