China's only ballistic missile submarine, the old Xia-class, took part in a military exercise in the last few weeks. This was the first time it had been to sea since 1995, and may have been the source of recent reports that a brand new type-094 missile sub (thought to still be on the drawing boards) had been launched. The Xia had remained docked since its extended refit, and analysts had wondered if the ship had irreparable problems that the refit had failed to fix. That might still be the case.--Stephen V Cole