Inside China’s terrifying nuclear plan

Chinese scientists have claimed to have developed long-range ‘disposable’ nuclear-powered torpedoes that could hit Australia in just a week.

The Communist superpower wants to use tiny ‘disposable’ nuclear reactors to propel its long-range torpedos, which would make the weapons smaller and harder to detect. 

Under the plans, China is proposing to gather a large fleet of low-cost ‘killer robots’ that can be carried by any military ship or submarine and placed into a standard torpedo tube.

Beijing could use the weapon to ‘strike submarines as they leave a port in home waters that is difficult to reach by manned platforms’, according to the South China Morning Post. 

Beijing could use the weapon to ‘strike submarines as they leave a port in home waters that is difficult to reach by manned platforms’. It has been compared to Russia’s Poseidon nuclear-powered drone (pictured) 

It would be able to drive a swarm of torpedoes across the Pacific Ocean in about a week, researchers have claimed.

Scientist completed a conceptual design for the weapons system in a paper published this month.

Scientist Guo Jian from the China Institute of Atomic Energy says China will build the weapon with ‘mature and simple technology that is easy to use and maintain, inexpensive and suitable for mass production.’

‘We need to think out of the box,’ he explained. ‘Thanks to its high flexibility and low cost, this unmanned underwater vehicle equipped with the nuclear power system can be used as a conventional force like an attack nuclear submarine, rather than as a nuclear missile.’

The scientist likened the weapon system to Vladimir Putin’s notorious Poseidon system. 

Poseidon is a Russian nuclear weapon that is a blend of torpedo and drone.

Moscow claims it is unstoppable by current nuclear defences, and could be used to destroy coastal cities or blow up aircraft carriers and their battle groups.

The weapon is designed to trigger a tsunami off any coastal city with a nuclear warhead. 

Under the plans, China is proposing to gather a large fleet of low-cost ‘killer robots’ that can be carried by any military ship or submarine and placed into a standard torpedo tube

Now, Chinese researchers claim they can deliver their version of the weapon within 10 years. 

They have also insisted it is not a ‘dirty bomb’ or a nuclear weapon in disguise.

The small reactor would be ‘ejected’ to the seabed shortly before the torpedo strikes its target – with an on-board battery pushing it to its target. 

This would leave the radioactive material outside any blast radius.

Guo says the submarine’s high speed and endurance will also allow it to inspect distant waters and track potential targets.