Huang Xuhua, the chief designer of China’s first generation of nuclear submarines, died in Wuhan in the central province of Hubei on Thursday. He was 98.
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Huang’s funeral committee said on Friday that the engineer had been receiving medical treatment but did not specify the nature of his illness.
Huang began working on the top secret “09 Project” in 1958 to develop China’s first nuclear submarine and rose to become one of its leading scientists.
Cut off from Western and Soviet technology, the project’s small team worked with researchers in other fields on the Type 091 nuclear-powered attack submarine and the Type 092 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine.
Launched in 1970 and commissioned in 1974, the Type 091 made China the fifth nation to possess such advanced hardware.
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Huang’s name and his role in the programme remained largely unknown in the outside world until 1987 when the information was declassified and a magazine was allowed to publish a report on him, according to mainland media.