Trump warns Russia and China are catching up with US on submarines

The president referred to nuclear subs as “the most lethal weapons” ever made

Russia and China are catching up with the US in terms of number of submarines, US President Donald Trump has said, although he asserted that America remains far ahead.

He made the remarks during a speech to top military officers at Quantico, a Marine Corps base outside Washington, on Tuesday.

“We’re 25 years ahead of Russia and China in submarines,” Trump claimed. “Russia is actually second in submarines. China is third. But, you know, they’re coming up.”

“They’re way lower in nuclear, too, but in five years they’ll be equal,” he added, without elaborating whether he meant nuclear weapons or submarines.

He added that he deployed “a nuclear submarine” after being “a little bit threatened by Russia recently,” referring to former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s mention of the ‘Dead Hand’ – the rumored Soviet contingency system capable of launching every remaining nuke in the event the country’s leadership is killed by a first strike.

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Trump referred to the nuclear submarine as “the most lethal weapon ever made.”

“It’s undetectable, totally. Ours is. Theirs isn’t,” he said, claiming that the US has access to “genius apparatus that doesn’t allow detection.”

According to a defense industry study published in China in September, Beijing is working on an AI submarine detection system that could hunt down craft with a 95% accuracy rate. It reportedly collates and analyses data from sonar buoys, underwater sensors, radar and even water salt and temperature levels to find enemy vessels.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in August that Russian submarines have a “military advantage,” because they are capable of diving under Arctic ice and thus vanishing from radar.

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Moscow has expanded its roster of nuclear submarines with eight Borei-class vessels since the 2000s, the newest of which – the Knyaz Pozharsky – was launched earlier this year.

Putin recently extended a friendly gesture to the US, after Trump hinted that he wanted a nuclear deal with Russia and China.

In a speech at the Russian Security Council last week, Putin offered to abide by the New START treaty for one year after it lapses – provided Trump does the same. The agreement, which limits nuclear weapon stocks, is set to expire next February.