Future submarines [Archive] - The Fifth Column

Riđđu

26-02-10, 08:17 PM

What´s the grand idea behind ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems future submarine construction?

Kockums to Design Sweden‘s Next-Generation Submarine - The A26-class submarines will focus on littoral operations.

By Nicolas von Kospoth, Managing Editor

Sweden‘s A26 Submarine Programme to Enter Next Phase after Government Approval

February 26, 2010 defpro.com | Following last week’s approval by the Swedish government to initiate the design phase, the country’s Defence Materiel Administration (Försvarets materielverk, FMV) awarded Kockums AB, a 100% subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, with a contract for the overall design of Sweden’s next-generation submarine. This decision is considered to confirm the government’s intention to further develop Sweden’s submarine capability, after the programme was delayed and failed to be carried out as a multi-national Scandinavian procurement programme, as it was planned earlier. Initiation of the design phase for the submarines, designated A26, was already approved by the Swedish government in December 2007.

Several years ago, Sweden was involved in talks with Norway and Denmark, within the framework of the so-called “Viking” project, to build a tri-national next-generation submarine. However, after Denmark decided not to operate any submarines in the future, Norway also left the project and it was continued as a national programme. Nevertheless, Norway has shown continued interest and is examining a possible future purchase of the submarine. For the time being, this remains a national programme, which so far is intended to provide two submarines for the Swedish Navy, as confirmed Ulf Lindström, Press Relations Manager at the FMV. However, the final number of next-generation submarines to be procured has not yet been decided by the government.

Commenting the order for the overall design Kockums CEO Ola Alfredsson said: “This is an important first step, not only for Kockums, but for the Swedish Armed Forces as a whole. We shall now be able to maintain our position at the cutting edge of submarine technology, which is vital in the light of current threat scenarios. HMS Gotland demonstrated what she is capable of during two years [June 2005 - July 2007] of joint exercises in the water off the USA. This next-generation submarine marks a further refinement of technology.”

According to Kockums, the naval capabilities of the new generation will focus on littoral operations, however, without abandoning the significant ocean-going capabilities. It will be powered by a conventional diesel-electric propulsion machinery and will be equipped with Kockums Stirling AIP system (air-independent propulsion). The latter have already been successfully operated with the Gotland-class submarines and made them most interesting to the US Navy which leased a Gotland-class vessel for naval exercise purposes. The Sterling AIP system, combined with a set of balanced underwater signature properties, makes the submarine very difficult to detect and allows it to stay submerged for weeks. Furthermore, Kockums will also attempt to create a design highly invulnerable to underwater explosions through a verified shock resistance.

Ulf Lindström further commented on the capabilities of Sweden’s future submarines: “The submarine will, among other new features, be equipped to support Special Forces operations as well as future use of autonomous or remotely controlled underwater vehicles.” The submarine, which is intended to provide a high degree of modularity “is also optimised for efficient production using large resiliently mounted platforms and a highly modular interior,” explained Lindström.

A key element in future operations of Sweden's submarines will be information gathering, as Senior Vice President PR & Communications at Kockums, Kjell Göthe, told defpro.com. The combination of sensors and noiseless propulsion is to enable the submarine to see and hear everything over a wide area while remaining undetected.

As Mr Göthe said, the recently awarded design contract, which will be carried out during the next two years, is an important success for Kockums and supports the further sustainment and development of Swedish expertise and know-how in the field of naval development and construction. The government is scheduled to take a decision on the building phase in spring 2010 and is aiming for 2017 for the launch of the first vessel.

Key data* of the next-generation submarine (A26):

• Length: 63m (ca.)
• Pressure hull diameter: 6,4m (ca.)
• Two pressure tight compartments

• Displacement:
- Surfaced:1,700 m³ (ca.)
- Submerged: 1,860 m³ (ca.)

• DE-Gensets: 3 x 500 kW
• Stirling AIP system Mk III: 3 x 65 kW
• Crew size (mission dependent): 17-28

(*The data was provided by the Swedish FMV.)

buglerbilly

27-02-10, 12:13 AM

HDW Tests New Battery Cells for Submarines On Board the Solar Catamaran “PlanetSolar”

(Source: ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems; issued Feb. 26, 2010)

HAMBURG/KIEL, Germany --- Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH (HDW), a company of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, is testing innovative lithium ion battery cells on board the solar catamaran “PlanetSolar”.

The boat is financed by the German entrepreneur and solar pioneer Immo Ströher in close cooperation with Knierim Yachtbau GmbH, the shipyard that built the catamaran, and the battery manufacturer GAIA Akkumulatorenwerke GmbH.

HDW will now enter the final development phase for a new generation of energy storage systems that is designed for future use on non-nuclear submarines.

The Chairman of HDW’s Executive Board, Mr. Walter Freitag, states: “Lithium ion technology is an enormous step forward for submarine batteries. These cells were developed by GAIA, with the support of HDW and exclusively for us. In comparison to the lead acid batteries commonly used so far on board submarines, they feature much greater capacity and a longer life expectancy.

“In addition, they are virtually maintenance-free. Due to the very high demands in the submarine construction sector and in order to ensure operational safety on board, HDW has developed a comprehensive safety concept for system integration. The solar catamaran is the prototype for first operation of the lithium ion technology on board a manned vessel.”

HDW has an advisory role during integration of the currently largest lithium ion battery in the world on board “PlanetSolar” and is supporting Knierim with technical know-how. This particularly applies to the safety aspects of operating lithium ion technology on board.

Thanks to the successful cooperation with Knierim and GAIA in this project, HDW has been able to further extend its position as world-wide leaders in the field of submarine propulsion technology, a position that was established with the development of air-independent propulsion on the basis of the fuel cell plant.

The Marine Systems business area is a leading European systems house supplying submarines, naval surface ships and premium segment yachts to customers globally. The company’s outstanding shipbuilding competence includes repairs, services and ships’ components. Roughly 7,500 employees in Germany, Greece and Sweden are committed to meeting the broadest possible range of challenges

-ends-

Riđđu

27-02-10, 12:17 PM

Didin´t someone on the legacy forum keep writing that the Europeans stand no change in submarine construction when emerging American technologies mature?

buglerbilly

02-03-10, 01:47 AM

Government Approval for New Submarine

(Source: Kockums AB; issued Feb. 26, 2010)

The Swedish Government has approved initiation of the design phase for a new generation submarines for the Royal Swedish Navy.

The new generation, denominated A26, will be designed for mainly littoral operations but will also possess ocean-going capabilities. It will be powered by a conventional diesel-electric propulsion machinery, and equipped with Kockums Stirling AIP system (air-independent propulsion).

The Stirling system, together with a set of balanced underwater signature properties, will make the A26 submarine very stealthy and difficult to detect. It will also be highly invulnerable to underwater explosions through a verified shock resistance.

The A26 design includes a new innovative flexible payload capability with a flexible payload lock system in addition to its conventional torpedo tubes. Furthermore it will be prepared for network connectivity. A highly modular design facilitates efficient through-life upgrades and adaptations.

TECHNICAL DATA

--Length over all: 63 m
--Beam: 6.4 m
--Displacement: 1900 tons submerged
--Weapon armament: Four 53 cm bow tubes + one flexible payload lock
--Weapons: Positive discharge or swim-out
--Propulsion: Single-shaft, diesel-electric and Stirling AIP
--Submerged endurance: Weeks
--Hull: Single pressure hull, two pressure tight compartments
--Crew: 17-26

Click here for the previous Kockums announcement on the new submarine program.

-ends-

Weasel

19-03-10, 05:04 AM

Didin´t someone on the legacy forum keep writing that the Europeans stand no change in submarine construction when emerging American technologies mature? What technologies were those?

Powerplant
Acoustics
Damage control
Photonics
Computing power
Energy management

The list goes on.

The wonderful thing about submarines are that they artificially enhance a mortal human captain's trickydicky and sneakiness level. No one can help themselves. They all become sneaky sneaks. So the whole this sub vs that sub debate is a bit redundant.

I would have to say it is a safe bet to make this assumption; If you are in a modern sub then you are always in the game. Subs allow this disproportionate level of being able to take the smallest opportunity and capitalize on it because of their inherent stealth.

cheers

w

Gubler, A.

19-03-10, 05:45 AM

buglerbilly

19-03-10, 04:48 PM

Australian Submarines 'Poor Value for Money'

DAN OAKES

(Source: Australian Strategic Policy Institute; issued March 19, 2010)

Australia's insistence on maintaining a strong defence industry means it pays vastly more than other nations for its equipment, a study has found.

Conducted in the United States by McKinsey consultants, the study raises further concerns about the Rudd government's plans to acquire 12 submarines to replace the trouble-plagued Collins class vessels.

The report ranked the US and Australia equal last out of 33 countries on a measure of defence equipment output versus expenditure. Brazil, Poland and Russia headed the table.

''In general, countries that make it a point to support their domestic defence industries have higher procurement costs than those that rely on imports,'' the report says. ''Countries that procure older equipment from the global market tend to have very capable fleets for less money.''

The new submarine fleet for Australia was proposed in a defence white paper last year.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), in a study last year, put a price tag of $9 billion on buying off-the-shelf European submarines, and $36 billion on an Australian design and build.

''My understanding is that [build or buy] is still an open question,'' Andrew Davies, one of the ASPI study's authors, has told The Age.

''The government has been quite supportive of the submarine as it's been described in the white paper in all of its public discussions, but they have also stressed that no decision has been made yet. ''

Defence Materiel Minister Greg Combet told a conference in January the choices were between an off-the-shelf submarine, a reworked Collins or one designed from the ground up. But Mr Combet said an Australian design-and-build could provide ''significant potential industrial and military capability opportunities because of its size and duration, among other things''.

In the white paper, the government declared it was ''committed to ensuring that certain strategic industry capabilities remain resident in Australia''.

Dr Davies said that, despite the submarines controversy, Australia was inexorably moving towards buy, rather than build.

He said that the thought of supporting a local defence industry was often more attractive than the reality, despite the lure of retaining technology and creating jobs. ''There was no thought of assembling the Joint Strike Fighter or Super Hornet here,'' Dr Davies said. ''I think that trend has been a very clear one over the last 60 years but is only going to accelerate.''

-ends-

Weasel

19-03-10, 04:58 PM

buglerbilly

19-03-10, 05:14 PM

I believe ASPI is still Government funded..........?

Mind you that doesn't mean doodly...............

Gubler, A.

20-03-10, 05:09 AM

Davies has expressed a couple of times that he isn't in favour of domestic shipbuilding. I was talking to the PM of the AWD project a few years ago and he walked up and announced he wasn't convinced they should be built in Australia. Of course doing so a year or two after ASC had been selected! The accounting about how the additional cost of domestic shipbuilding is more than offset by the return to Govt. from taxation, current accounts and domestic industrial development don't seem to have any affect on his opinion.

Unicorn

20-03-10, 10:08 AM

You don't mean that his 'in-depth' analysis has not taken into consideration all relevant factors, but is a partisan piece of headline grabbing tosh designed to make people think ASPI is actually relevant to the needs of the Defence community?

I'm shocked I tell you, Shocked!

buglerbilly

29-03-10, 04:29 PM

KD Tunku Abdul Rahman Undergoes Sea Trials off Malaysian Coast

(Source: DCNS; issued March 26, 2010)

Royal Malaysian Navy Scorpene-type submarine Tunku Abdul Rahman has completed its first sea trials off the Malaysian coast following scheduled maintenance at its home port. The trials confirm the boat's readiness for underwater service.

Following maintenance, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman was floated out and made ready to resume its training schedule, including dive trials by the Malaysian crew off its home coast.

"These trials demonstrate that the Royal Malaysian Navy has successfully established the country's first ever submarine force," says Pierre Quinchon, head of DCNS's Submarine division. "We are proud indeed of our contribution to this success and the close ties built up with Malaysia."

The contract between the Malaysian government and DCNS for two Scorpene submarines and associated logistics and training was signed in June 2002.

With a displacement of 1,550 tonnes for a length overall of 67.5 metres, each boat requires a crew of just 31 and offers 45 days' endurance.

The Scorpene programme confirms DCNS's know-how as a leading prime contractor for sophisticated warship programmes. With ten units ordered (two for Chile, two for Malaysia and six for India), Scorpene is now an international benchmark in SSK design.

The Scorpene was designed by DCNS and developed jointly by DCNS and Spanish naval shipbuilder Navantia. The design features a range of advanced technologies - particularly in hydrodynamics, acoustic discretion and automation - drawing on innovations developed in recent years for other submarine programmes.

KD Tun Razak, the second Scorpene for the Royal Malaysian Navy, currently in Toulon, will sail from France to Malaysia in a few months.

-ends-

buglerbilly

12-04-10, 03:57 PM

Sweden to Invest In New Submarines

(Source: TheLocal.se; published April 11, 2010)

The Swedish military is set to shell out billions of kronor for two new state-of the-art submarines while also upgrading two older vessels, defence minister Sten Tolgfors has revealed, defence minister Sten Tolgfors has revealed.

Writing in the Sunday edition of Stockholm daily Svenska Dagbladet, the minister conceded that the Baltic Sea area remained stable, with only Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg breaking the circle of EU and NATO-affiliated countries.

"However, one can never rule out long-term risks and incidents, which could also be of a military nature," Tolgfors wrote. The multi-billion kronor investment is to be included in next week's spring budget proposal, he added.

Ship builder Kockums said in February that it had signed a contract with FMV (the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration) regarding the construction of next-generation submarines.

“This is an important first step, not only for Kockums, but for the Swedish Armed Forces as a whole," said Kockums CEO Alfredsson in a statement released at the time.

"We shall now be able to maintain our position at the cutting edge of submarine technology, which is vital in the light of current threat scenarios. HMS Gotland demonstrated what she is capable of during two years of joint exercises in the water off the USA. This next-generation submarine marks a further refinement of technology”, he said.

Until now however the Swedish government had not given any indication of the scope of its plans. Along with the two new vessels, two Gotland class attack submarines will also receive major upgrades as part of the investment.

Tolgfors said the move would ensure that Sweden's submarine fleet maintained its "top international calibre". The minster also shared Kockums' view that the next-generation Swedish submarine would attract a great deal of interest abroad and would likely lead to export deals in the future.

-ends-

Riđđu

24-04-10, 04:56 PM

This sub took some time to mature...

Russian Navy News (http://rusnavy.com/news/navy/) Admiralteyskie Verfi delivers new sub to the Navy

Text: RIA Novosti (http://www.rian.ru/)
Photo: St. Petersburg at the shipyard's quay. warships.ru (http://www.warships.ru/)
Admiralteyskie Verfi shipyard delivers lead submarine St. Petersburg to Russian Navy; acceptance certificate was signed on Thursday, reports the shipyard's press service.

"Acceptance certificate of lead submarine St. Petersburg was signed at Admiralteyskie Verfi shipyard, St. Petersburg. The 4-gen submarine designed by Rubin Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering had passed all required state trials. Hoisting the Navy's flag at the sub is scheduled in May 2010", says the press release.

Project 677 Lada diesel electric submarine St. Petersburg has displacement of 1,765 tons; length is 67 meters; beam is 7.1 meters; max surface speed is 21 knots; max submerged speed is 10 knots; cruising radius is 650 nm; endurance is 45 days; test depth is 300 meters.

"Subs of this project are designed for antisubmarine and antiship war

geof

25-04-10, 11:25 AM

Let’s not forget the US builds more submarines (and bigger ones) equipped with diesel electric generators than all the countries of western Europe combined. Sure they have primary nuclear power plants but they all have snorkels and big diesel generators on board that work the same way as a primary diesel electric powered boat.

Oh... I never knew that, thanks Abe. If that's the case why not 12 Virginia class thanks ...
What is this obsession with the Euro boats anyway ..?

gf a.k.a. ROBOPIMP

26-04-10, 12:12 AM

Oh... I never knew that, thanks Abe. If that's the case why not 12 Virginia class thanks ...

Unsuitable for our mission set. However, the issue is onboard power to do our mission sets. Smaller subs don't have the energy, power generation and real estate to do what we want (IMO)

What is this obsession with the Euro boats anyway ..?

Like any service there are groups within who have preferences.

Personally, I wouldn't use ASC or Kockums again. ASC need a complete hose out of their senior executive and Kockums IMO were serial offenders at a development level.

geof

26-04-10, 12:16 PM

The requirements from last years white paper again.....

" The Future Submarine will have greater range, longer endurance on patrol, and expanded capabilities compared to the current Collins class submarine. It will also be equipped with very secure real-time communications and be able to carry different mission payloads such as uninhabited underwater vehicles.
9.4 The Future Submarine will be capable of a range of tasks such as anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare; strategic strike; mine detection and mine-laying operations; intelligence collection; supporting special forces (including infiltration and exfiltration missions); and gathering battlespace data in support of operations.
9.5 Long transits and potentially short-notice contingencies in our primary operational environment demand high levels of mobility and endurance in the Future Submarine. The boats need to be able to undertake prolonged covert patrols over the full distance of our strategic approaches and in operational areas. They require low signatures across all spectrums, including at higher speeds."

Thats a big list that will require a big boat, at least around 5000-6000 ton and a lenght of about 90-100m to fit all that in I reckon.

buglerbilly

29-04-10, 03:16 PM

Malaysia Scoffs At French Probe Of Submarine Deal

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Published: 29 Apr 2010 08:06

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysia on April 29 downplayed a French probe into claims of corruption over a $1.1 billion submarine deal linked to Prime Minister Najib Razak, saying there was "no case" to answer.

The opposition welcomed the investigation and said the case was just the "tip of the iceberg" of corrupt defense contracts in Malaysia.

French judicial officials have confirmed to AFP that they opened a probe in March into the 2002 sale of two Scorpene submarines made by the French shipbuilder DCN.

The case was opened at the request of Malaysian rights group Suaram, which alleges DCN paid a commission of $150 million (114 million euros) to a company called Perimekar.

Perimekar is linked to Abdul Razak Baginda, an associate of Najib. Abdul was later acquitted on charges of abetting the 2006 murder of his mistress, Mongolian interpreter Altantuya Shaariibuu, in a case which captivated the nation.

"It is their right to investigate but for us, there is no case," a spokesman from the prime minister's office told AFP, maintaining the deal was free of graft and that Perimekar had not improperly benefited.

"This is not a new issue - it is a concerted and continued effort by the opposition to discredit the premier," the spokesman said. "It is politically motivated."

"The deal has always been politicized and associated with the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case. Since they are not making any headway now, they are pursuing it from another angle," he added.

He declined to say whether Malaysian officials would cooperate in the probe.

Najib, defense minister when the deal was brokered, has defended the submarines' purchase and denied any involvement in Altantuya's murder.

Two Malaysian policemen, members of an elite unit that guards top ministers, were last year sentenced to death for killing Altantuya, whose body was blown up with military-grade explosives in a jungle clearing.

No motive was offered for Altantuya's killing during the murder trial. Popular blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin has been charged with sedition after repeatedly linking Najib and his wife to the crime.

The opposition welcomed the French probe, saying the government has not been transparent on the submarine deal and that it was "alarming" that the French authorities had to investigate the case.

"It shows Malaysia was engaged in a dubious deal and as a result of that, a foreign country - where the submarines were bought from - is actually investigating it," said Tian Chua of the lead opposition party Keadilan.

"There is a long list of [defense] scandals, this looks like just a tip of the iceberg," he said.

Joseph Breham, a lawyer representing Suaram in France, told reporters in Malaysia on April 28 that the investigation was opened as part of an ongoing probe against DCN over other defense deals in Pakistan and Taiwan.

Breham said the Malaysian case was opened after French prosecutors found Perimekar was created only "a few months before" the submarine deal was inked and that the company had no experience in the submarine industry.

The case will proceed before a judge if prosecutors are satisfied with the probe, according to the lawyer, who added that Malaysian officials are not obliged to testify in the French court.

"The onus is on the Malaysian government to respond on an issue that we have not been able to get an answer," Suaram director Cynthia Gabriel said.

The Malaysian government has said it did not pay any commission to Perimekar, but that the company has a six-year contract to provide support services for the submarines.

The first submarine was delivered last year, while the second is expected to arrive from France on May 31.

Milne Bay

29-04-10, 11:21 PM

ABC News is reporting:

US ends ban on women in submarines
Posted 35 minutes ago

From today, women are allowed to serve on board United States navy submarines.

They have worked alongside men on US navy ships and aircraft since 1993 but it was deemed the cramped conditions in submarines precluded both sexes serving together.

"Maintaining the best submarine force in the world requires us to recruit from the largest possible talent pool," Vice Admiral John Donnelly, commander of naval submarine forces, said in a statement.

"There are capable women who have the interest, talent, and desire to succeed in the submarine force."

Defence secretary Robert Gates notified Congress of the planned change on February 19, and lawmakers had until midnight Wednesday to raise objections but took no action.

Senior naval officers in the past resisted proposals to open up the all-male bastion to women, citing the vessels' extraordinarily close quarters and the cost of having to modify subs to accommodate female crew members.

The navy says the policy change will start with the assignment of female officers to four submarines, including guided-missile attack subs and ballistic missile subs.

The women chosen to serve will first have to take a 15-month submarine officer extensive training course.

There are currently more than 52,000 women in the active duty navy, making up 15 per cent of the 330,700-strong force.

Top-ranking US military officer Admiral Mike Mullen first called for the change in written testimony to Congress last year, saying he wanted to "continue to broaden opportunities for women" in the armed forces.

The US army's chief of staff also has said it was time to revisit rules barring women from ground combat roles.

gf a.k.a. ROBOPIMP

30-04-10, 09:18 AM

Thats a big list that will require a big boat, at least around 5000-6000 ton and a lenght of about 90-100m to fit all that in I reckon.

Nobody on the sub project is looking at a virginia sized boat.

eg the media were pointedly told at the SIA Conf for the future sub by Adm Tripovich that its RANs job to design the sub for our needs - not the media. we already do the whitepaper articulated reqs within collins draught/specs. fractionally bigger, maybe. double the size? I wouldn't be betting on it

buglerbilly

04-05-10, 02:35 AM

Trident replacement threatened by doubts over US submarine costs

May 3, 2010 by Guest Writer

A Trident submarine on the Clyde. Picture: JohnED76

http://politics.caledonianmercury.com/2010/05/03/trident-replacement-threatened-by-doubts-over-us-submarines-2/

The UK government’s plans to replace Trident submarines could be thrown into disarray by growing doubts over their future in the US.

The US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, is today expected to challenge the American Navy’s plans to spend up to $80 billion (£52 bn) on 12 new submarines to replace the existing Ohio-class boats which carry Trident nuclear missiles.

Because the UK programme is so dependent on the US, this could hugely increase costs and jeopardise Labour and Conservative promises to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system.

Gates is due to give a speech to a major US naval conference in Maryland. According to his aides, he will raise a series of questions about the Ohio replacement programme, due to commence in 2027.

Moves by President Obama to cut nuclear weapons globally, the economic crisis and competing naval programmes will all be cited, they say, as reasons for rethinking plans for future submarines.

The speech will be interpreted by observers as a direct challenge to navy chiefs. The message will be that, if they don’t cut back their submarine programme themselves, cuts may be imposed upon them.

Gates has been blunt about the implications of the high cost submarine replacement programme in the past. “In the latter part of this decade, it will suck all the air out of the navy’s shipbuilding program,” he told a House of Representatives subcommittee in March. “Some tough choices are going to have to be made, either in terms of more investment, or choices between the size of surface fleets you want and the submarine fleets.”

The submarine programme has also come under pressure in Congress. Gene Taylor, the democrat who chairs the influential seapower committee, last week threatened to recommend against funding it.

One big problem is that the estimated cost of the new US submarines has doubled. Three experts told a subcommittee of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on 20 January that the average cost of each submarine had risen from $3.4 billion (£2.2 bn) to between $6 and $7 billion (£3.9-£4.6 bn).

According to congressional sources, this was very likely to put up the price tag for replacing Trident submarines in the UK, estimated by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as £11-14 billion in 2006. It was “highly improbably” that UK costs could now be kept that low, one expert said.

“Robert Gates is planning to cut the number of new US submarines,” said John Ainslie, the co-ordinator of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. “This will increase even further the amount the British taxpayer will have to contribute, because this is a joint Anglo-American project.”

The cost of replacing Trident submarines would be “far higher” than the British government has admitted, he argued.

The new US and UK submarines are meant to share much of the same technology, including their Trident missile compartments, navigation systems and fire controls. The countries have also been working closely together to develop the kind of nuclear reactors that will power the submarines.

The revelation about Trident’s escalating costs in the US was described as “devastating”, by Angus Robertson, the Scottish National Party’s defence spokesman and Westminster leader.

“The UK has never had a truly independent nuclear weapons system and any decision to scrap or even modify the US programme has massive cost consequences for the Ministry of Defence,” he said.

“It is no surprise, given the squeeze on their defence budget and President Obama’s desire for disarmament that the US Defence Secretary is considering scrapping the fleet. The London parties should wake up and realise the true costs of what they are proposing and scrap it all together.”

The MoD has argued in the past that it would be able to build submarines cheaper than the US. Last week, it declined to comment.

Zen9

04-05-10, 01:46 PM

Sio. The Obama administration is going to try to pull a Kenedy? Then they can have a Nassau.

buglerbilly

25-05-10, 01:42 PM

HMAS Dechaineux Returns to Service

(Source: Australian Department of Defence; issued May 23, 2010)

Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Materiel and Science, today welcomed the successful return to service of the Collins-Class submarine, HMAS Dechaineux.

“The successful return to service of Dechaineux shows efforts to improve material availability of Navy’s submarine force are paying off,” said Mr Combet.

HMAS Dechaineux has recently completed its first Full Cycle Docking at the Adelaide yard of its builder, ASC Pty Ltd.

Full Cycle Docking is the major recertification and upgrade docking for the submarines. Dechaineux is the fourth submarine to complete this upgrade and arrived today in its home port of Fleet Base West, Western Australia after an intensive sea trials period to prove its systems.

“The Government has been working to improve the level of submarine availability. To help provide an increased focus and scrutiny of the submarine sustainment program the Government formed the Australian Submarine Program Office (ASPO) earlier this year.

“The return of HMAS Dechaineux is an important step in the improvements Navy, DMO and ASC are making to submarine availability through the ASPO.

“I also acknowledge the US Navy’s strong support in the development of capability upgrades for both our submarine forces.

“During its full cycle docking Dechaineux was fitted with the BYG-1 combat system and Mark48 Mod7 heavyweight torpedo, the third of the class to receive these upgrades.

“This combat system and torpedo have been developed through a highly successful joint program with the United States Navy. The combat and weapon system upgrades, together with an augmented Special Forces deployment capability fitted to Dechaineux in the docking, make it Navy’s most capable submarine.” Mr Combet said.

HMAS Dechaineux joins HMAS Waller and HMAS Collins, both currently operating from Fleet Base West.

“Submarines are a potent maritime force and they will continue to play a major role in protecting Australia’s maritime interests well into the future,” said Mr Combet. (ends)

HMAS Dechaineux Completes FCD

(Source: ASC; issued May 23, 2010)

Australian submarine and shipbuilding company ASC today announced the completion of a full-cycle docking (FCD) for HMAS Dechaineux at the company’s operations in Adelaide.

A FCD is a complete overhaul of a submarine. It is a comprehensive and complex engineering and production process that ultimately delivers a fully refurbished Collins Class vessel to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

HMAS Dechaineux’s FCD was the first maintenance activity to benefit from the newly-established Australian Submarine Program Office (ASPO).

The Minister for Defence Materiel and Science, the Hon Greg Combet MP established the ASPO in February 2010 as an integrated product team that brings together ASC, Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) and RAN personnel in Adelaide.

ASC Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Steve Ludlam said the ground-roots collaborative involvement of DMO and the RAN played a critical role in the final stages of HMAS Dechaineux’s FCD.

“ASPO immediately brought new perspectives to the FCD process and created a high quality collaborative environment across the Materials, Planning, Engineering Support, Design Support and Production teams that ultimately delivered a high quality submarine to our customer,” Mr Ludlam said.

“We’re no longer organisations working in isolation. DMO, RAN and ASC represent one team committed to the safety, capability and availability of Australia’s Collins Class submarines, and the reliability, sustainability and viability of the system as a whole. The delivery of HMAS Dechaineux proves that.”

In addition to a standard FCD work scope and introducing significant complexity, ASC and the Commonwealth installed and integrated a series of design enhancements to HMAS Dechaineux’s advanced tactical capabilities during the submarine’s FCD, including:

-- Installation of the MK48 Mod 7 ADCAP CBASS Heavyweight Torpedo;
-- Installation of the Commonwealth and United States Navy’s jointly developed AN/BYG-1 submarine tactical and weapon control system and other improvements to the existing sonar system, navigation system, communications and navigation sensors;
-- Implementation of Special Forces capability;
-- Improved fire fighting systems;
-- Diesel modifications;
-- Fuel system safety improvements; and
-- Sewage system automation.

The completion of just the first of these additional tasks required effective coordination of requirements management, integration, testing, torpedo deliveries and their installation in each boat.

The successful completion of HMAS Dechaineux to service is therefore clear demonstration of the power of teamwork in contending with project and program complexity.

The submarine has now been warmly welcomed back to its home port by the Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Russ Crane.

“HMAS Dechaineux’s homecoming marks a major capability improvement to our submarine force,” Vice Admiral Crane said.

ASC (formerly known as Australian Submarine Corporation) is the nation’s last remaining Australian-owned prime defence contractor. The company constructed the Collins Class submarines and today delivers design, upgrade and maintenance services for the submarines through-life. ASC is also the shipbuilder of Australia’s next generation warships – the Hobart Class air warfare destroyers. ASC employs over 1,500 personnel in South Australia and Western Australia, including 280 engineering and technical specialists.

-ends-

ARH v.3.1

25-05-10, 02:48 PM

Is there any word out on the number of SF personnel the submarine is capable of delivering?

buglerbilly

03-06-10, 04:22 AM

First Steel Cut for Brazilian Submarine Programme

Work on a Malaysian Scorpene-class submarine at a DCNS shipyard.

DCNS begins work on first or four Brazilian conventional submarines

09:15 GMT, June 2, 2010 defpro.com | Last week, the French naval manufacturer DCNS has begun with the work on the first conventional attack submarine for the Brazilian Navy by celebrating the first steel cut at a ceremony at the company’s Cherbourg centre. In an effort to modernise the South American country’s submarine fleet, DCNS had been awarded a major contracts package by the Brazilian Navy back in December 2008 for the design and construction of four conventional-propulsion submarines under a technology transfer agreement, the technical assistance for the design and construction of the non-nuclear part of the first Brazilian nuclear-powered submarine, and the support services for the construction of a naval base and a shipyard in Itaguai (Rio de Janeiro state). The order is DCNS’ biggest contract ever for an international customer and will be performed by a Joint Venture, established in co-operation with the French company’s Brazilian partner Odebrecht.

Based upon the Scorpene-class submarines and incorporating the specific requirements of the Brazilian Navy, the submarines will represent a new, enlarged class, named SSK. The first boat of this new class is scheduled to enter active service in 2017. All four submarines use conventional or diesel-electric propulsion and will be manned by a crew of between 30 and 45 submariners. For a length overall of 75 meters the design offers a surface displacement of less than 2,000 tons.

Pierre Quinchon, head of DCNS's Submarine division said on the occasion of the steel-cut ceremony in Cherbourg, where the forward part of the boat will be built: “This programme confirms the Group’s expertise in setting up innovative partnerships based on well-managed technology transfers in favour of international client navies. We are proud to offer Brazil the opportunity to acquire advanced naval technologies. The design and construction of these submarines represent a significant workload for both DCNS and the Brazilian naval shipbuilding industry, beginning with our benchmark partner Odebrecht.”

With a contract value of $9.3 billion for the entire naval contracts package, reportedly clinched at the President’s level between Nicolas Sarkozy and Ignacio Lula da Silva and largely financed by loans totalling €6.1 billion extended by a pool of French banks, it gives DCNS a significant stand in South America. DCNS will act as prime contractor for the four conventional-propulsion submarines to be built by the Joint Venture. In the further process of the co-operation, DCNS will provide design assistance under the Brazilian Navy’s design authority - for the non-nuclear part of the Navy‘s first nuclear submarine which will equally be built by the Joint Venture. The entire nuclear power plant will be designed and built in Brazil, based upon an $880 million investment programme.

The first steel cut marks the start of the industrial production phase of the programme. It will be followed by the arrival of some 130 Brazilian engineers and technicians that will participate in the technology transfer programme for the construction of those submarines in Brazil.

----
By Nicolas von Kospoth, Managing Editor

buglerbilly

05-06-10, 02:30 AM

Germany Retires 6 Of Its 10 Submarines

By ALBRECHT MÜLLER

Published: 4 Jun 2010 10:49

BONN, Germany - The German Navy abruptly decommissioned more than half of its submarine fleet on June 1, well ahead of the planned 2016 retirement of the six 500-ton U-206A-class diesel submarines.

The German Navy decommissioned six of its 10 submarines on June 1. (ZATOICHI1564)

Now the German sub fleet consists of four U-212A-class vessels. The 1,830-ton boats, among the world's most modern conventional submarines, have a new hybrid drive with a fuel cell that allows them to operate fully submerged for several weeks.

All four were commissioned between 2005 and 2007; the Navy is expecting the delivery of two more slightly modified U-212A-class subs by 2012 or 2013.

"At the moment, we expect their operational readiness not later than 2015," a German Navy spokesman said.

The spokesman did not say whether the decommissioning was related to recently announced government plans to cut defense spending.

The newspaper Kieler Nachrichten said the decommissioning of the U-206As has dropped Germany from second to sixth place among nations that operate non-nuclear submarines.

Between 1973 and 1975, Germany commissioned 18 U-206-class submarines. In the early 1990s, the service modernized 12 of them to the U-206 A standard, when they were the smallest operating armed submarines in the world, according to Navy officials.

The crews of the decommissioned boats will be retrained to serve on the U-212A subs.

"Until now, every crew was assigned to its own boat, but we will change this to a two-crew concept," the spokesman said.

That way, the submarines themselves can remain longer in an operational area while only their crews will have to be changed. Germany's planned F125 frigates also will use this approach.

JimWH

05-06-10, 03:22 AM

I can't really say I blame them. The 206As didn't really bring anything extra to the party in a post Cold War environment, ad they must have been becoming increasingly expensive to keep in service. Switching to a two-crew model for the 212s also makes an awful lot of sense, though one does need to wonder what it'll do to the life-span of the boats/

buglerbilly

09-06-10, 05:28 AM

HASC Chair Skelton Wants Diesel-Electric Subs

The cruise-missile carrying, stealthy submarine may very well become the ship of the future, says Rep. Ike Skelton, the influential chair of the House Armed Services Committee. Determined to see the Navy battle fleet grow to 313 ships (today’s fleet is 286 ships), and mindful of shipbuilding costs, he thinks building larger numbers of smaller, perhaps even diesel-electric, submarines, instead of large capital ships, might be the answer.

The nature of warfare has changed, Skelton said. World War I was the era of the Dreadnought. World War II was the era of the aircraft carrier. In the future strategic era, one where enemy battle networks are ever more capable, the stealthy submarine may reign supreme. Small, stealthy submarines have utility in both high-end, large scale wars and low-end, guerrilla conflicts, he said, speaking to reporters in Washington this morning.

“Numbers make a difference, presence makes a big difference… just an American ship in the area makes a big difference.” Skelton is so adamant about naval forward presence that he said just “put sails” on any ship and get it out there.

The Navy says they want 313 ships, but the budget they sent to the Hill doesn’t get there, so Skelton’s committee is examining ways to increase ship numbers. Slowing the Navy’s retirement of legacy ships is one option. “A lot of these ships are able to carry on for another three, four or five years,” Skelton said. He’s also willing to shift money from other parts of the defense budget into shipbuilding to “buy another ship or two.”

– Greg Grant

Read more: http://defensetech.org/#ixzz0qK4r0YC8
Defense.org

Riđđu

15-06-10, 11:20 AM

New nuclear submarine to be launched today

Barents Observer
2010-06-15

Russia’s newest nuclear powered multipurpose attack submarine the Graney (Yasen) class “Severodvinsk” will be launched from the Sevmash shipyard today. Present at the launch is President Dmitry Medvedev.

[/URL]Medvedev in Sevmash (Kremlin.ru)

“Severomorsk” is the first of Russia’s new fourth generation nuclear submarines. The launch ceremony was originally scheduled for May 7, but was postponed because of technical reasons, a source in the United Shipbuilding Corporation told RIA Novosti (http://barentsobserver.com/getfile.php/954516.623.ttcaxdcsps/1024x768/4793157_954516.atSevmash%28kremlin%29.jpg). Construction of “Severomorsk” started in 1993, but was halted, mainly because of financial setbacks. The submarine is planned to be delivered to the Russian Navy in 2011.

Infographics from RIA Novosti (press for larger image)

New architecture and new weapons

Vessels of the Graney class will be most silent submarines in the [Russian-speaking] world. They will have a maximum speed of 16 knots surfaced and 31 knots submerged. They will be 119m long, 13,5m wide and 9,4m high. They will be armed with 24 cruise missiles of the type SS-NX-26. The submarines will have a completely new architecture and new types of armament. For the first time in Russian ship building, the torpedo tubes and missile launchers are placed not in the nose section but in the mid-section of the hull, [URL="http://www.prime-tass.ru/news/0/%7BDBD86B55-C9A1-4734-AFE8-FC1562541F35%7D.uif"]PRIME-TASS (http://barentsobserver.com/getfile.php/1263501.623.ecyfvsftxp/1024x768/4793157_1263501.jpg) writes. The sail (tower) will be streamlined and oval. President Medvedev, who is also the Supreme Commander of the Russian Armed Forces, has visited Sevmash once before, in July 2009, as BarentsObserver (http://barentsobserver.custompublish.com/president-medvedev-visited-sevmash-inspected-yury-dolgoruky.4612254-16149.html) reported.

buglerbilly

17-06-10, 03:37 PM

Building Australian Submarine Maintenance Industry Capability

(Source: Australian Department of Defence; issued June 17, 2010)

Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Materiel and Science, today congratulated ASC on their continued commitment to building the local submarine industry in Western Australia.

“With the recent successful docking of the first submarine at Australian Marine Complex (AMC) in Henderson, Western Australia, ASC have marked a key milestone for the $35 million purpose-built submarine support facility,” said Mr Combet.

“The establishment and growth of industry bases in key Defence areas continues to improve the capacity for industry partners to respond efficiently and effectively to Defence requirements.

“In addition, this approach supports the growth of associated, small to medium enterprises. These companies will form an integral part of the nation-wide team that will maintain our submarines.

“With this increase in capability ASC is now able to carry out maintenance on as many as three submarines at any one time.

“The resulting responsiveness of the entire system demonstrates the benefits of Government’s commitment to building local industry capability, for the defence of Australia, the protection of our sovereign interests and the security and stability of our region,” Mr Combet said.

ASC West currently employs around 185 people.

-ends-

buglerbilly

17-06-10, 11:54 PM

Gabler, WTD 71 lift lid on SDV demonstrator

By Richard Scott

16 June 2010

Sea Devil's telescopic casing extends from 3.4 m (stowed) to 5 m (operational) in length. The torpedo tube of a Type 212A submarine will accommodate two vehicles. (IHS Jane's/Charles Hollos)

Sea Devil's telescopic casing extends from 3.4 m (stowed) to 5 m (operational) in length. The torpedo tube of a Type 212A submarine will accommodate two vehicles. (IHS Jane's/Charles Hollos)Article ToolsFull Article for Subscribers

Germany's Gabler Maschinenbau has unveiled a compact submarine-compatible swimmer delivery vehicle (SDV) prototype developed in conjunction with the Bundeswehr Technical Centre for Ships and Naval Weapons (WTD 71).

Designed for stowage in a standard 533 mm torpedo tube, Gabler's two-person SDV concept – dubbed Sea Devil – has emerged from a technology demonstrator project begun by WTD 71 in 2006 to meet the requirements of the German Navy's special forces cadre.

Speaking at the Undersea Defence Technology Europe Conference 2010 in Hamburg on 7 June, Anke Wilhelm, engineering supervisor for WTD 71's test-diving team, said the German Ministry of Defence had tasked WTD 71 to work with naval special forces to establish the key user requirements for a two-person submarine-compatible SDV. He said: "These included a 3 kt cruise speed, a depth rating of at least 24 m, reasonable comfort, low noise and signature characteristics, low weight, 300 litres of payload space, rugged construction, easy handling and simple preparation [fully operational from torpedo-tube egress in 10 minutes]."

He added: "We also set an objective for an SDV that was sized to accommodate two special forces divers in a comfortable position, but that was sufficiently compact to enable two vehicles to fit into a single Type 212A [submarine] torpedo tube."

201 of 516 words
Copyright © IHS (Global) Limited, 2010

buglerbilly

18-06-10, 04:01 PM

ASC Docks Its First Submarine in Western Australia

(Source: ASC; issued June 17, 2010)

ASC, Australia’s submarine builder and maintainer, has docked its first submarine at ASC West – a $35 million purpose-built submarine support facility located at the Australian Marine Complex (AMC) in Henderson, Western Australia.

Home to 185 employees and set to inject millions of dollars into the Western Australian economy, ASC West has docked HMAS Farncomb, which was brought to land aboard the AMC’s floating dock and then transferred to ASC’s facility on a multi-wheeled transfer system, marking the beginning of ASC maintaining submarines at the AMC.

ASC Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Steve Ludlam said the company had eagerly awaited its first submarine docking since the opening of ASC West in 2008.

“We made the decision to build ASC West based on the State Government’s commitment to deliver the floating dock, with the seamless performance in docking HMAS Farncomb highlighting its outstanding capabilities,” Mr Ludlam said.

“ASC is now able to carry out maintenance on as many as three submarines at any one time, reinforcing the efficiency gains we expect to realise by maintaining submarines in a state-of-the-art production environment.”

Previously, ASC worked across multiple sites in Western Australia since 1996, with the 2008 opening of ASC West representing the amalgamation of three service facilities into one consolidated, submarine support facility.

The submarine repair and maintenance work that ASC will undertake in Western Australia is expected to generate some $35 million annually for the State.

“We’re delighted to be a key user of this great floating dock facility and, coupled with the strategic location of ASC West, we’re in a much better position to make a significant contribution to the frontline of Australia’s naval defence force,” Mr Ludlam said.

“Today, we celebrate ASC’s commitment to maintaining the Navy’s Collins Class submarines on the west coast of Australia.”

-ends-

Gubler, A.

19-06-10, 06:53 AM

Milne Bay

19-06-10, 08:45 AM

So this is somehow different to all those Collins class pulled from the water via the Tenix shiplift at Henderson? ASC have wasted a good deal of public money (we the people own ASC) just to have their own little bit of shipyard seperate from Tenix, yay!

I also thought it was an extravagance, but assumed that I was missing some vital piece of information that would justify it.
OTOH, will it come into its own when the submarine fleet reaches 12?
Hmm
MB

Gubler, A.

19-06-10, 09:25 AM

I also thought it was an extravagance, but assumed that I was missing some vital piece of information that would justify it.
OTOH, will it come into its own when the submarine fleet reaches 12?

As crummy as the old Tenix spot for ASC may have looked there was no reason it couldn't have handled twice the number of sub refits. Now they have to compete for space at the CUF with all the oil and gas work and ensure TS security in a mostly civil space rather than inside an all mil space. It’s just a waste of money and one of many reasons why the management of ASC aren't working there anymore.

buglerbilly

23-06-10, 03:20 PM

Swedish Parliament Votes In Favor of Procuring New Submarines

(Source: Kockums AB; issued June 22, 2010)

On June 16 the Swedish Parliament voted in favor of allowing the government to procure two new submarines during 2010.

“I am not surprised that the parliament decided to make this decision as it was a part of the proposed spring budget presented earlier this year by the government. The decision is however very important since it formally allows the government to continue the process of procuring these submarines. The parliamnets decision is therefore positive from a Kockums perspective,” says Ola Alfredsson, CEO of Kockums AB.

Kockums AB had earlier received the government contract to design and propose a construction of a new submarine. The company has also started to prepare for this by hiring new employees like system and development engineers.

“The procurement of two new submarines will mean an essential upgrade of the Swedish submarine capacity. Our new submarine construction represents the latest in marine technology. The submarine will, among other things, be strengthened in its role as an information gatherer being equipped with refined stealth technology that will enable it to see and hear everything within a large diameter without being detected. It is constructed in order to operate effectively in the Baltic Sea and other littoral waters,” Ola Alfredsson concludes.

-ends-

buglerbilly

29-06-10, 04:26 PM

Design Phase of Sweden’s Future Submarine Programme Makes Another Step Forward

The future A26-class submarines will focus on littoral operations.

Saab to Design Combat Management System for Next-generation Submarines

07:52 GMT, June 29, 2010 defpro.com | Following the passing of two significant official milestones – the government’s approval to initiate the design phase and the parliaments voting in favour of the procurement of two vessels in 2010 – the ball is now in the industry’s court, in an effort to develop Sweden’s next-generation submarine. In February 2010, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (Försvarets materielverk, FMV) awarded Kockums AB, a 100% subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, with a contract for overall design and on 16 June a parliament voting allowed the government to procure two new submarines during 2010, as planned in the proposed spring budget presented earlier this year.

Now, the Swedish defence and security company Saab has been awarded a SEK100 million (€10.49 million, $ 12.83 million) contract by Kockums for overall design of the combat management system as well as solutions for integrating the system aboard the next-generation submarines. Building on experience from the delivery of 200 naval command and control systems for submarine and surface vessels, the combat management system will play a key role in the designated future tasks of the A26-class submarines.

Gunilla Fransson, Head of business area Security and Defence Solutions within Saab, said “Saab has world leading expertise within the area of naval command and control systems and our strategic cooperation with Kockums is very important for us. We look forward to being part of the development of Sweden’s next generation of submarines.”

According to Kockums, the naval capabilities of the new generation will focus on littoral operations, however, without abandoning its significant ocean-going capabilities. An emphasis will be placed on the submarine’s intelligence gathering capabilities and its ability to operate as stealthy as possible, remaining submerged for long periods due to its Kockums Stirling AIP system (air-independent propulsion). The latter have already been successfully operated with Gotland-class submarines, which made them most interesting to the US Navy, the latter having leased a Gotland-class vessel for naval exercise purposes from 2005 to 2007. As Kjell Göthe, Senior Vice President PR & Communications at Kockums, told defpro.com earlier this year, the combination of sensors and noiseless propulsion will enable the submarine to see and hear everything over a wide area while remaining undetected.

Although having expected the parliaments vote in favour of the procurement plan, Kockums’ CEO, Ola Alfredsson, greeted the decision and said: “The procurement of two new submarines will mean an essential upgrade of the Swedish submarine capacity. Our new submarine construction represents the latest in marine technology.”

To meet man-power and professional requirements of the design phase, Kockums hired new employees, including system and development engineers. The parliament’s decision, therefore, is an important signal for Kockums that procurement of the new submarines will proceed as scheduled and as expected by industry, aiming for the launching of the first vessel in 2017.

The Swedish programme emerged from a changeful history at the negotiating table. Several years ago, Sweden was involved in talks with Norway and Denmark, within the framework of the so-called “Viking” project, to build a tri-national next-generation submarine. However, after Denmark decided not to operate any submarines in the future, Norway also left the project and it continued on as a national programme. Nevertheless, Norway has shown continued interest and is examining a possible future purchase of the submarine. For the time being, this remains an exclusively Swedish programme, which so far is intended to provide two submarines for the Swedish Navy. However, the final number of next-generation submarines to be procured has not yet been decided by the government.

Key data* of the next-generation submarine (A26):

• Length: 63m (ca.)
• Pressure hull diameter: 6,4m (ca.)
• Two pressure tight compartments

• Displacement:
- Surfaced:1,700 m³ (ca.)
- Submerged: 1,860 m³ (ca.)

• DE-Gensets: 3 x 500 kW
• Stirling AIP system Mk III: 3 x 65 kW
• Crew size (mission dependent): 17-28

(*The data was provided by the Swedish FMV.)

-----
By Nicolas von Kospoth, Managing Editor

buglerbilly

08-07-10, 10:25 AM

From sea to sky: Submarines that fly

05 July 2010 by Paul Marks

Magazine issue 2767.

GUILLEMOTS and gannets do it. Cormorants and kingfishers do it. Even the tiny insect-eating dipper does it. And if a plan by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) succeeds, a remarkable airplane may one day do it too: plunge beneath the waves to stalk its prey, before re-emerging to fly home.

The DARPA plan, announced in October 2008, calls for a stealthy aircraft that can fly low over the sea until it nears its target, which could be an enemy ship, or a coastal site such as a port. It will then alight on the water and transform itself into a submarine that will cruise under water to within striking distance, all without alerting defences.

That, at least, is the plan. The agency is known for taking on brain-twistingly difficult challenges. So what about DARPA's dipper? Is it a ridiculous dream? "A few years ago I would have said that this is a silly idea," says Graham Hawkes, an engineer and submarine designer based in San Francisco. "But I don't think so any more."

DARPA, which has a $3 billion annual budget, has begun to study proposed designs. In the next year or so it could begin allocating funding to developers. Though the agency itself is unwilling to comment, Hawkes and others working on rival designs have revealed to New Scientist how they would solve the key problems involved in building a plane that can travel under water - or, to put it another way, a flying submarine.

The challenges are huge, not least because planes and submarines are normally poles apart. Aircraft must be as light as possible to minimise the engine power they need to get airborne. Submarines are heavyweights with massive hulls strong enough to resist crushing forces from the surrounding water. Aircraft use lift from their wings to stay aloft, while submarines operate like underwater balloons, adjusting their buoyancy to sink or rise. So how can engineers balance the conflicting demands? Could a craft be designed to dive into the sea like a gannet? And how will it be propelled - is a jet engine the best solution, both above and below the waves?

Aircraft must be light to minimise the power needed to get airborne, while subs need massive hulls to resist crushing
According to Norman Polmar, former adviser on naval strategy and technology to the US government, the starting point must be to find a way to make an aircraft that can sink in water. "Submarines cannot fly," he says, "but seaplanes can submerge." This was the thinking behind what was probably the first stab at a flying submarine. In 1934 Boris Petrovich Ushakov, a student engineer at a Soviet military academy, devised a flying underwater boat - a three-engined floatplane designed to scout out enemy ships and then ambush them. Ushakov envisaged his craft flying ahead of the target, landing on the sea and then flooding its fuselage so that it could lie in wait beneath the surface and torpedo the ships as they sailed past. Ushakov submitted his radical design, which included a conning tower and periscope, to senior officers in 1936. But the concept was never put into practice, being deemed too heavy to be effective.

It took another three decades before a flying sub appeared for real. This was a craft built in 1962 by Donald Reid, an engineer at aircraft manufacturer North American Aviation. The Reid Flying Submarine (RFS-1) was a true mongrel, constructed by Reid in his spare time using leftover parts from other aircraft and, like Ushakov's design, it was a floatplane. The craft proved able to dive to a depth of a few metres in tests, but was so heavy it could only make short hops into the air. Though this was at the height of the cold war, the US navy showed little interest in Reid's machine.

That may have been because the navy had already commissioned another aircraft manufacturer, Convair, to build what became known as the "subplane". It dispensed with heavy floats, relying instead on its streamlined fuselage, like the hull of a flying boat, to land on the water. In a paper in the September 1964 issue of Naval Institute Proceedings (p 144), hydrodynamics engineer Eugene Handler at the US Bureau of Naval Weapons claimed this flying sub would be ideal for attacking Soviet shipping in the Baltic, Black and Caspian seas. Convair drew up detailed designs and even built scale models which were tested in water tanks. Though the results looked promising, the project never made it any further; it was cancelled by Congress in 1966.

So is DARPA's new project destined for a similar fate? "What the Americans want sounds incredibly ambitious," says UK Royal Navy commander Jonty Powis, head of NATO's submarine rescue service. "If they achieve half of what they want from this machine they will be doing well." Others are more optimistic, especially in the light of advances in engineering and materials science since the last attempt - notably in lightweight carbon fibre composites and energy-dense batteries. "There's probably no reason why it can't be done," says Hawkes.

There is general agreement that Convair's hull design was sound. Landing on a flying-boat-style fuselage and doing away with cumbersome floats should make the craft lighter and faster both in the air and under water. But once the craft is on the water, how best to get it to dive?

Simply flooding the fuselage with water is one solution, but this means the crew would have to be kitted out with scuba equipment. Housing the crew in a watertight cabin is obviously preferable, and to counter its buoyancy Polmar suggests borrowing another idea from Convair's design - floodable fuel tanks. If the fuel in the tanks is held in a rubber bladder, the craft can be submerged by letting water into the void vacated by fuel used on the outward trip. When it's time to surface, the water can simply be pumped out.

For propulsion under water, electric power is the preferred option, according to Ian Poll, an aerospace engineer at Cranfield University in the UK. "Using batteries to drive electric motors when submerged could have another benefit," he says: their weight would help counter the craft's buoyancy.

Unfortunately batteries could severely undermine the sub's airworthiness. In a report titled "Conceptual Design of a Submersible Tactical Insertion Aircraft", published last year by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a team of engineering students at Auburn University in Alabama calculated that the batteries required for a sub capable of travelling 44 kilometres under water - a distance specified by DARPA - will weigh as much as all the other components of the vessel combined, making it too heavy to fly.

So rather than using electric power, the Auburn team favours propelling the vessel with a gas turbine fed by air drawn in through a 10-metre snorkel. That means the sub will have to stay close to the surface. While DARPA has yet to specify at what depth the flying sub should operate, being restricted to a limited depth might not matter. "As long as it is not visible, there's not much reason to dive far below the surface," says Bob Allwood, engineer and chief executive of the Society for Underwater Technology in London. "The problem is that the craft has still got to be slightly denser than water to submerge."

Hawkes, however, does not see this as a problem. In fact he doesn't accept that the craft has to be made heavier to sink beneath the waves, any more than a normal aircraft has to become more buoyant to take off. "You can't build an aeroplane that is also a balloon, and an aeroplane can't go under water in the same way a sub does. You're mixing two fundamentally different modes of operation."

Hawkes already builds submarines that are lighter than water (New Scientist, 12 February 2000, p 36). To overcome their natural buoyancy and keep them below the surface, they are equipped with wings that generate downward "lift". "Think about it as flying under water," he says. "It can be done. It just needs a lot of work."

A submersible that is lighter than water needs wings that generate downward 'lift'

Into the deep

To operate below the waves as well as above them, these wings will have to be a bit out of the ordinary. "One important thing is that the craft's wings will need a symmetrical aerofoil, unlike the asymmetrically curved wing that gives aircraft lift," he says. So when the craft is airborne, the wing will need a positive "angle of attack": in other words, it will need to be angled upwards relative to the airflow. To achieve this, the craft will have to fly in a nose-up attitude. Conversely, when under water it will need a negative angle of attack, so the craft will travel nose-down (see diagram).

Hawkes has already built a stubby-winged submersible called the Super Falcon that can "fly" down to 300 metres, about 10 times deeper than a scuba diver. Redesigned with aero engines and larger wings, it could be made to fly at about 900 kilometres per hour with its nose angled up by about 5 degrees, Hawkes says. Under water it should manage around 10 knots (18 kilometres per hour). At these speeds, the characteristics of the air and water flow - defined by a parameter known as the Reynolds number - are roughly the same, so the craft's control surfaces should work in both environments.

Hawkes admits that an awful lot of power will be needed to get the Super Falcon airborne, and only jet engines have enough oomph to do the job. Polmar agrees, and points out that the piston engines used in conventional light planes are ruled out for other reasons: they would fail if any water leaked into the cylinders. "You cannot immerse a reciprocating engine and expect it to work," he says. But protect a jet engine against saltwater corrosion and position it high on the craft so the spray doesn't enter the intake during take-off and landing, and it will work fine. Russian aircraft maker Beriev has proved this with its Be-200 amphibious plane.

In fact, Hawkes foresees jet engines playing a dual role, propelling the plane through the water as well as through the air. There's no reason why the compressor and turbine blades in a jet engine can't be driven by an electric motor to generate thrust under water, he says. It should be possible to build an engine that runs on kerosene in air and switches to electricity when submerged.

Others are already thinking along these lines. Last year, aircraft manufacturer Airbus patented a hybrid electric jet engine for airliners which can be powered by both conventional kerosene and electricity. Most jet engines have an electric starter motor, and this motor could spin the turbine's shaft under water, Hawkes suggests. The blades would rotate more slowly than normal, he says, and the engine won't be particularly efficient. "But I believe this could work perfectly well."

The Auburn students came up with much the same strategy in their design, opting for a type of gas turbine called a turboshaft to get the best performance. Equipped with large rotor blades and gears to adjust its speed, a turboshaft unit offers "acceptable efficiency" in both air and water, they say. Alternatively the air could be fed to a fuel cell to generate electricity to spin the blades.

But there is one stumbling block to Hawkes's scheme for using a conventional jet engine for propulsion in air and water. "You can't let cold seawater get at a hot engine because the thermal shock will blow it apart," warns engineer Jim McKenna of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, who has previously researched submersible systems. "It takes a long, long time to cool down a jet engine: the turbine runs at somewhere between 500 and 600 °C," he says. In other words, without some innovative thinking, a jet-powered sub might have to wait hours on the surface before its engines are cool enough for it to dive.

Should Hawkes's buoyant design win out, getting it to sink low enough in the water for its wings to start creating downward forces could also be a problem. Hawkes has a dramatic solution: copy what diving birds do. "You might have to put the nose down and literally dive, smack, into the water," he says. Taking inspiration from birds would put submersible-aircraft engineers in illustrious company: 19th-century glider pioneer Otto Lilienthal and the early 20th-century inventors of powered flight, the Wright brothers, are among those who did so - though it's no guarantee of success in this case. Whatever happens, says Hawkes, "it would certainly be spectacular".

Video can be seen here, see info box below..............

http://www.newscientist.com/articlevideo/mg20727671.000/106442225001-from-sea-to-sky-submarines-that-fly.html

As stealthy as a fish

Fish of the family Rajidae, which includes stingrays and skate, swim by flicking the outer edges of their fins. Victor Krylov from Loughborough University in the UK believes that winged submarines might be able to do the same (Ocean Engineering, vol 37, p 378). He suggests using electric motors or shape-memory materials to repeatedly flick the end of a flexible, wedge-shaped wing, creating a wave that ripples backwards and generates forward thrust.

Tests using model boats equipped with undulating rubber keels have shown that the rippling effect works, though it is less efficient than a conventional propeller (Applied Acoustics, vol 68, p 97). But importantly for the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is about to commission development work on flying submarines, the "rajiform" drive should be far quieter than propellers, making craft harder to detect. And, he says, a vessel's crew would not feel vibrations with a wedge-shaped wing, as the wave remains confined near the wing tip.

Paul Marks is senior technology correspondent at New Scientist

buglerbilly

09-07-10, 01:52 AM

Run Wired, Run Deep: Subs May Finally Get Online

By Olivia Koski July 8, 2010 | 10:49 am

A nuclear submarine in deep dive may be the last place on Earth where it’s impossible to get a phone call, a text message or the day’s dose of spam. But all that may soon be over, if a Lockheed-led program works out as planned.

The subs glide quietly along the depths of the ocean for weeks at a time, isolated from communication with surface dwellers save arcane one-way messages delivered at very low bit rates by Extremely Low Frequency (3-3000 Hz) or Very Low Frequency transmissions (3000-30,000 Hz). In order for subs to respond, or if communication beyond slow alphanumerics is required, they must come up for air or stick an antenna above the water.

“Most people think our submarines … can make phone calls whenever they want at a moment’s notice … but our subs do not have that luxury,” says Rod Reints, the man in charge of a Lockheed Martin-led program to bring submarine communications into the 21st century.

At the center of Communications at Speed and Depth program is new technology that could enable stealth submarines to be as connected to the Defense Department’s Global Information Grid as any Navy ship. Within a few years, all U.S. Navy subs will be equipped with expendable high-tech communications buoys that will allow two-way real-time chat, data transfer and e-mail.

It seems so much simpler than other attempts at connection with underwater vessels.

Until a few years ago, mind-bogglingly large (as in 52 miles long) ELF and VLF antennas were the state-of-the-art in stealth submarine communication. At such low frequencies, the earth itself must be recruited to generate the signals, which is why subs can only receive, and not send them. The resulting antennas are tens of miles long and generate complaints from neighbors paranoid about possible electromagnetic health effects. There are only a handful of ELF transmitters in the entire world, two in the United States: one in Michigan and one in Wisconsin.

Then, there’s the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, which tested out ways to use the upper atmosphere as an antenna replacement. The Alaskan array can excite the earth’s ionosphere with high-frequency radio waves, inducing it to emit the extremely low-frequency bands needed to covertly penetrate saltwater.

Recent underwater-comm research has transitioned to higher frequency bands in more compact packages (compared to tens of miles, that’s not difficult). Qinetiq’s Seadeep will enable two-way communication with U.S. subs using airborne blue-green lasers. Raytheon’s Deep Siren is a program of expendable pager buoys that can relay messages from satellites to submarines acoustically, but it can only transmit one way.

Comms at Speed and Depth will be the first two-way underwater communication system for submarines. The exact depth at which subs will be able to deploy the buoys is classified, but Reints asserts that the length of the buoy cables is “measured in miles, and it’s long enough to allow the submarine to launch at significant depth and continue at normal operational speeds during a mission.”

Three buoys are in development by Lockheed Martin and two subcontractors, Ultra Electronics Ocean Systems and Erapsco. Two of them are tethered to the sub and communicate with it using fiber optic cable. One is equipped for communication with the Iridium satellite constellation, the other for UHF. The third is a freewheeling acoustic-to-RF buoy. It can be dropped out of an aircraft or even launched out of a sub’s trash shoot.

The buoy batteries for the tethered systems last for up to 30 minutes. Once it loses power, the buoy scuttles itself. The untethered buoys are designed to be deployed for three days.

Phone calls are technically possible with the new system. Reints says that although his team made an Iridium test call last April, “voice is not the intended purpose right now.”

The first buoys are supposed to be delivered to the Navy for operational testing by January 2011.

All of this underwater communicativeness might just take the thrill out of boomer movies. What kind of drama will stoke the next Crimson Tide if the captain and XO get crystal clear instructions from D.C. that they can verify real-time?

Illos: Lockheed Martin

Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/run-wired-run-deep-subs-may-finally-get-online/all/1#ixzz0t8bIXWEV

buglerbilly

12-07-10, 02:40 PM

KD Tun Razak, the Second Royal Malaysian Navy Submarine, Sails In Homeland Waters

(Source: DCNS; issued July 9, 2010)

KD Tun Razak, the second of two Scorpene-class submarines ordered by Malaysia, sails into Lumut naval base after a 64-day voyage from France. (DCNS photo)

The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) second Scorpene submarine, KD Tun Razak, reached the Lumut naval base for an official homecoming ceremony on the 2nd of July. Mid-July, she will sail to Teluk Sepanggar, Sabah, the RMN submarine base

KD Tun Razak's voyage between DCNS facilities in the south of France and Malaysia lasted 64 days. Following the navigation plan, the Royal Malaysian Navy sailed the submarine 7283 nautical miles through the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the Malacca Straits before reaching home.

During its journey, the submarine stopped in four ports of call: Alexandria (Egypt), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Salalah (Oman) and Cochin (India). In Teluk Sepanggar, KD Tun Razak will go through scheduled maintenance before comprehensive sea trials in the tropical waters of the region.

The contract between the Malaysian government and DCNS for two Scorpene submarines and associated logistics and training was signed in June 2002. KD Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Malaysian submarine reached home in September 2009.

With a displacement of 1,550 tonnes for a length overall of 67.5 metres, each boat requires a crew of just 31 and offers an endurance of 45 days.

This programme demonstrates DCNS's know-how as a leading prime contractor for sophisticated warship programmes. With ten units ordered (two for Chile, two for Malaysia and six for India), Scorpene is an international benchmark in SSK design.

The Scorpene was designed by DCNS and developed jointly by DCNS and Spanish naval shipbuilder Navantia. The design features a range of advanced technologies - particularly in hydrodynamics, acoustic discretion and automation - drawing on state-of-the-art innovations developed for other submarine programmes.

DCNS is a world leader in naval defence and an innovative player in energy. DCNS designs, builds and supports submarines and surface combatants as well as associated systems and infrastructures. The Group proposes services for naval shipyards and bases. The Group employs 12,000 people and generates annual revenues of around EUR 2.4 billion.

-ends-

buglerbilly

12-07-10, 04:12 PM

Project-75I Becomes India’s New Record Defence Programme

India seeks to replace its ageing diesel-electric submarine fleet.

India's Defence Acquisitions Council approves $11 billion for six new submarines

09:33 GMT, July 12, 2010 defpro.com | Using the superlative for Indian defence spending and procurement programmes has become a common practice. For months, India’s effort to find a new multi-role fighter aircraft for its Air Force, also known as the MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) competition, which may yield an estimated $10.4 billion contract for 126 aircraft to the winning company, was considered to be the most prominent Indian defence programme. It attracted numerous international competitors, offering state-of-the-art aircraft, including the Super Hornet, Eurofighter, Gripen, Rafale, MiG-35 and F-16IL.

Now the superlative for the country’s biggest defence programme is attributed to Project-75 India (P-75I) which is to provide the Navy with six next generation diesel-electric submarines. For this purpose, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) , chaired by Defence Minister A K Antony, recently approved the allocation of Rs 50,000 crore, equalling $11 billion. While according to the DAC, three of the six submarines will be constructed at the Mazagon Docks (MDL) in Mumbai and one at Hindustan Shipyard Ltd (HSL) in Visakhapatnam, the “Times of India” yesterday reported that the two remaining submarines will either be imported or directly or constructed at a private shipyard in India. All work is to be assisted by a foreign collaborator.

There is no specific timeline for the programme, yet. However the programme will be subject to a certain time pressure, as it is estimated that in 2015 the Navy will only be able to operate half of its current fleet of 15 ageing diesel-electric submarines. An Indian official told the “Times of India” that he hopes, the navy will receive its first submarine under P-75I in six to seven years. In light of an almost three-year delay and increasing costs in the ongoing Project-75 for six French Scorpene-class submarines, to be constructed at the MDL shipyard, it remains to be seen if this is an ambitious schedule.

The next step will be to issue a RfP (request for proposal) in order to select a foreign collaborator. Major international export agencies and naval shipyards, probably including Rosoboronexport (Russia), DCNS/Amaris (France), HDW (Germany) and Navantia (Spain), are likely to spring into action as soon as the framework for P-75I is known.

India’s next-generation conventionally powered submarines are planned to feature improved stealthy and land-attack capabilities. This will include the integration of an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system, allowing submarines to remain submerged for very long periods. Conventional submarines without an AIP system have to surface regularly in order to refresh the oxygen in the submarine and to recharge their batteries.

In parallel to sustaining an adequate fleet of conventionally powered submarines, India is continuing its efforts to introduce its first nuclear-powered submarine. The Russian-built Akula-II class attack submarine, dubbed K-152 Nerpa, will be leased for ten years as of October and the indigenously developed and constructed INS Arihant is scheduled to enter service by early-2012.

It is obvious that any country spending such amounts for the procurement of new defence technology will likely shift the military balance in the region. To what extent India’s next-generation submarine fleet may create such a shifting is questionable. The fact remains, that they will provide the Indian Navy with a significant range of new capabilities to the Indian Navy; a fact which worries countries having their own interests in the region, including China. Li Jie, a researcher at the Chinese Naval Research Institute of the PLA Navy, told the Global Times: “Submarines have always been the Indian Navy’s weakness. [...] Those new submarines, along with India’s aircraft carrier fleet, will boost the country’s presence in the Indian Ocean and change the military climate in Asia.” However, a lot of water will flow down the Ganges until the Indian Navy will have an operational naval fleet, as described by Li, which may shape the security-political environment of the region.

----
By Nicolas von Kospoth, Managing Editor

buglerbilly

13-07-10, 02:34 PM

Lockheed Martin Successfully Completes Critical Design Review for U.S. Navy's Communications at Speed and Depth Program

(Source: Lockheed Martin; issued July 12, 2010)

See post 39 for pretty pictures of this..............

MARION, Mass. --- A Lockheed Martin-led industry team has completed a successful critical design review for a system that will give U.S. Navy submarines real-time, two-way communications without requiring platforms to proceed to periscope depth. The review clears the way for the team to begin producing hardware and to deliver engineering design models in early 2011.

Currently, submarines must come to periscope depth to communicate with other ships, aircraft or shore facilities. This increases the submarine's detection vulnerability and may result in a large delay in tactical communications. The new system, which can be installed on all classes of submarines, is called Communications at Speed and Depth (CSD).

"The CSD program fills a major gap identified in the Undersea Dominance Roadmap," said Brent Starr, the Navy's CSD principal acquisition program manager. "Successfully completing this review is a key indicator that we have designed a robust family of systems."

Lockheed Martin will deliver three types of two-way communications buoys and associated equipment for installation aboard submarines and ashore. Two tethered expendable communications buoy systems -- for Iridium satellite and ultra high frequency communications -- will be launched from submarines. The third is an acoustic-to-radio-frequency gateway system that can be launched from submarines and aircraft. The $35 million contract was awarded to Lockheed Martin in January of 2009 and includes the production of buoys for development tests and operational assessments.

"The CSD systems will keep submarines connected to the Global Information Grid far beneath the water's surface, helping submariners remain safe and hidden from enemy radars," said Rod Reints, Lockheed Martin's senior program manager for CSD. "Submarines are most vulnerable when they must surface to use communication systems. This program eliminates that vulnerability."

The Lockheed Martin-led CSD team includes; Ultra Electronics Ocean Systems and ERAPSCO, a joint venture between USSI, Inc. and Sparton Corporation.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 136,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation reported 2009 sales of $45.2 billion.

-ends-

Deks

13-07-10, 07:03 PM

I'm somewhat surprised at the 30 minute duration for the tethered buoy, surely if they're transmitting data they can do a power line as well? Operational concerns aside of course.

I'm also somewhat surprised that they're all supposed to be disposable. They'd have to be worth a pretty penny and to throw them away seems such a waste. Not suggesting the sub pick them up later though ;)

buglerbilly

14-07-10, 04:33 PM

India Seeks 6 Subs, $11B

By Manu Sood Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 9:49 am

India’s Defense Minister A. K. Antony approved a new line of submarines — Project 75(I) — to be constructed in India at a cost of $11 billion. Our colleague Manu Sood, editor of the Indian defense website 8ak.in, interviewed Bhupinder Yadav, who heads a small group of retired ex-servicemen at a defense and aerospace consulting company, Q-tech Synergy, to learn more.

8ak: How many submarines do the Indian Navy plan to have?

Yadav: The Indian Navy proposes to have a mix of twenty-four nuclear and conventional submarines of the SSK type. With six Scorpene and a further six Project-75(I) , the remaining 12 subs will be of an indigenous design.

The Indian navy is also planning to build micro-submarines for its strategic operations. An RFP was issued in Nov 2009 to Indian shipyards including Hindustan Shipyards Limited, ABG and Pipavav shipyards, Larsen & Toubro and state-owned Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL). Indian Navy is planning to get five of these vessels at a cost of about $80 million but the inductions can be doubled later on.

8ak: Why is the price almost US$2 billion per submarine whereas strategypage reports US$350 for an AIP submarine?

Yadav: The 2005, Scorpene diesel submarines deal was signed, with an option for six more and extensive technology transfer agreements was reported as being in excess of $4 billion. The Proj 75(I) is a $10.7 billion project for building six vessels. These will be new submarines and not the Scorpene, and it will be a bigger submarine with specific features with key differentiator being a new class of missiles, having some features from the HDW Type 214, the Russian Amur class, the Italian Fincantieri S-1000 in collaboration with Rubin of Russia. The extra cost could be for the new design that will allow the incorporation of future technologies, stealth features, missiles, transfer of technology, Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) and land attack capabilities.

8ak: Why did India not go in for a nuclear submarine instead of diesel electric?

Yadav: The utility of conventional diesel-electric submarines with the introduction of AIP (air-independent propulsion) systems like the French company DCNS’ MESMA (Module d’Energie Sous-Marine Autonome) and German fuel cells, the duration they can stay underwater can be increased substantially. They also have the added advantages of being smaller and cheaper than nuclear submarines. Another reason could have been the recent accident on submarines both in Russia and India.

8ak: Why are others like Fincanteri, BAE Systems and US manufacturers not in the deal?

Yadav: RFI was sent to French DCNS, Spanish Navantia, Russian Rubin, Italy’s Fincantieri and German HDW (now owned by Thyssenkrup). Great Britain and America only build nuclear submarines and not diesel electric.

8ak: The RFI was written up a couple of years ago, so why the delay?

Yadav: RFI was issued on 27 October 2008 for six diesel-electric attack submarines to be built in Indian shipyard, public or private, with special emphasis on full transfer of technology. The subs were to be equipped with air-independent propulsion (AIP) boosting their operational capabilities to have high degree of stealth, land-attack capability and ability to incorporate futuristic technologies. Since this will be a new type of submarine, the details and processing of project of this size does take time. Beside 3 reasons which delayed the project.

Some stray thoughts why not go for nuclear submarines, which has its own advantage and disadvantages such as vastly improved range and speeds, but are noisy hence no stealthy operations.

Time was also wasted on Pull and Push for this crucial programme by the public or private sector. Navy pressing to opt for a shipyard other than the Mazagon Docks, which has its hands full and has been delaying most of the projects.

Some friendly countries have been trying to put pressure that the additional submarine be procured from them. Hence the delay in RFP.

8ak: Why is the Indian private sector so enthusiastic about this announcement?

Yadav: Public sector shipyards like Mazgaon dock are running at full capacity and behind schedule. L&T’s excellent performance in the construction of the nuclear submarine and smaller submarine projects has given the Navy and the ministries the confidence in the private sector’s ability to deliver quality vessels, systems and on deliver as per schedule. A minimum of one submarine will be built at a private shipyard and a some sub-systems will be supplied by the private sector boosting indigenous capabilities.

Read more: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/07/14/india-seeks-6-subs-11b/#ixzz0tfQVkoRd

buglerbilly

24-07-10, 09:18 AM

News Release

Walls Have Ears - The Technology That Can Communicate Electronically Through Solid Steel

19 Jul 2010 | Ref. 162/2010

Data transfer through solid steel

Farnborough, UK - A revolutionary technology developed by BAE Systems that allows data to pass wirelessly through several inches of solid steel could save millions of pounds in the way submarines are designed, built and maintained. It also promises to enhance protection offered to soldiers using armoured fighting vehicles.

The through-hull data link system removes in one swoop the need to create hundreds of holes in a submarine hull to send and receive data from sensors and other external equipment.

The system is safer and more cost efficient. The current method of using holes fitted with specials ‘penetrators’ that have to be welded to the hull is expensive. There could be up to 300 penetrations in any single submarine and inserting each one represents a significant build cost.

Drilling the holes also necessitates additional strengthening of the hull to counteract the consequent structural weaknesses. The penetrations are prone to stress fatigue associated with repeated submarine dives. Tackling that fatigue substantially increases the through-life maintenance costs.

“We’ve developed a number of technology demonstrators and are currently testing it in a submarine environment,” says John Bagshaw, the technology executive from BAE Systems Advanced Technology Centre who has helped develop the system.

“We have demonstrated how signals from a video camera can pass through an armoured vehicle’s hull. This could offer significant advantages in increasing the crew’s situational awareness without reducing their protection.”

In due course, the oil, civil nuclear and gas industries could also benefit from this BAE Systems technology.

buglerbilly

24-07-10, 09:24 AM

Israel Denies Talks on German Submarine Purchase

By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Published: 23 Jul 2010 11:47

JERUSALEM - Israel's defense ministry said July 23 it was not looking to buy a sixth submarine from Germany at this time, after a German media report that Berlin had rejected an Israeli request for a subsidy.

"Following press reports, we wish to clarify that there are no negotiations with Germany for the purchase by Israel of an additional submarine," the ministry said in a statement.

"The question of a discount (by Germany) for such an acquisition is therefore not relevant," the statement added, referring to an article July 23 in Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

The report said that Chancellor Angela Merkel had made known that Berlin would not reduce the price of a sixth German-made Dolphin-class submarine for Israel because of budget constraints.

German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said there were "no concrete negotiations between Israel and Germany about a sixth submarine" and he could not comment on possible "informal talks" on the subject.

He confirmed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Merkel had spoken by telephone this week in a conversation focused on efforts toward Middle East peace but said he could not comment on whether the submarine was mentioned.

Israel's navy has three Dolphin-class submarines, two of which were bought after the 1991 Gulf War.

Israel has two other Dolphin submarines on order, being built at the Kiel shipyard in northern Germany and due for delivery in 2012.

Media reports have said the submarines can carry nuclear warheads and have an operating range of 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles).

buglerbilly

03-08-10, 02:48 AM

German Sub Delivered to Portuguese Navy

Agence France-Presse

Published: 2 Aug 2010 14:09

LISBON - The Portuguese navy said Monday it had taken delivery of one of two submarines it has ordered from the German Submarine Consortium (GSC), even as the sale is under investigation in both countries.

"The Trident arrived at the Lisbon naval base around 11 a.m.," the Navy said.

Portugal signed a contract with GSC six years ago for two U-214 submarines for 770 million euros (1.0 billion dollars), a sum that has increased due to delays. The second submarine is expected for delivery in the first quarter next year.

The submarine sale is however under investigation in both Germany and Portugal for alleged bribes that were made in exchange for the contracts won by GSC, which includes the naval shipbuilders HDW and Ferrostaal.

The Portuguese inquiry has also focused on seven Portuguese nationals and three Germans for allegedly submitting false bills in connection with the sub sale.

buglerbilly

13-08-10, 04:22 PM

Cost of Indian Scorpenes Rises by $1 Billion

(Source: Forecast International; issued August 12, 2010)

NEW DELHI --- The Indian government has sanctioned a price increase of $1 billion in the cost of the six Scorpene class submarines it has on order.

The cost increase is the result of initial teething problems, absorption of technology, and augmentation of infrastructure and procurement materials in the Mazagon Dock Ltd.

The last of the six submarines will now be delivered in the second half of 2018.

-ends-

buglerbilly

09-09-10, 01:35 AM

The Asia-Pacific Submarine Buildup; Do They Know Something We Don’t?

Naval strategist and historian Geoffrey Till, whose recent paper on the balance of naval power in Asia we linked to last week, notices a significant boost in Asia-Pacific submarine builds and buys. Total submarine numbers are expected to increase markedly over the next two decades in Asia-Pacific waters, particularly among smaller powers where small and stealthy submarines are seen as a “force equalizer,” he writes.

South Korea is buying six more of the medium sized KSS II/Type 214 Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) boats and plans to build a more capable KSS III type. Vietnam has ordered six Project 636 Kilo boats from Russia. Singapore bought two modern Vastergotland class subs retro-fitted with AIP systems from Sweden. Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are all developing or enhancing submarines, Till writes.

Australia’s 2009 Defense White paper calls for doubling its sub fleet to 12 boats, all equipped with cruise missiles. India is building six Scorpene class subs under French license. The recent Pentagon assessment of China’s PLA Navy modernization says it may add up to five Type 095 nuclear attack boats and 15 more of the diesel-electric Yuan class boats in the coming years.

I asked a very smart naval strategist who works for the Navy for his take on what’s going on with the big submarine push in the Asia-Pacific. He said that the recent sinking of the South Korean corvette Cheonan reinforces the fact that the smart play in future naval warfare is to be under the water and shoot a missile, not above the water and take a missile hit.

India appears to have learned the lesson: the Indian Navy recently put in an order for midget subs.

Ehh? What's midget subs got to do with a bag of chips?:shrug

– Greg Grant

Read more: http://defensetech.org/#ixzz0yz4bgSTL
Defense.org

Weasel

11-09-10, 03:15 PM

India appears to have learned the lesson: the Indian Navy recently put in an order for midget subs.

Ehh? What's midget subs got to do with a bag of chips?:shrug

– Greg Grant

Read more: http://defensetech.org/#ixzz0yz4bgSTL
Defense.org

Shallow water interdiction. You know, in a river, in a harbor, that kind of stuff. It also points to a rejection of pulp fiction meaning perhaps the people buying midget submarines don't believe the perception of domestic security that pervades western culture. If you invest in a platform, someone, at some level, believes that it can work. Therefore the target is one where the probability of success is highest. e.g. Pakistan.

If having acquired the asset you want to explore its envelope, then it is easy enough to do that in real world situations with a small submarine. If you get caught, you just say "sorry".

cheers

w

tiddles

12-09-10, 10:00 AM

Shallow water interdiction. You know, in a river, in a harbor, that kind of stuff. It also points to a rejection of pulp fiction meaning perhaps the people buying midget submarines don't believe the perception of domestic security that pervades western culture. If you invest in a platform, someone, at some level, believes that it can work. Therefore the target is one where the probability of success is highest. e.g. Pakistan.

If having acquired the asset you want to explore its envelope, then it is easy enough to do that in real world situations with a small submarine. If you get caught, you just say "sorry".w

I know that I ocasionally go on about the number of Indian "defence projects" but this just seems like another one that I probably wont live to see come to fruition ,thats if it ever does.However if it did go ahead it IMO would have been concieved like most Indian projects ,with Pakistan in mind, most of the Indian Def Forums seem obsessed with Pakistan although China looms in the background on occasions.
Tiddles

buglerbilly

20-09-10, 05:24 PM

Mystery Chinese SSK fuels Asia's submarine race

By Ted Parsons

20 September 2010

The China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation has launched an unidentified new-type conventional submarine (SSK) at its Wuhan shipyard, according to Chinese reports.

It is the third new SSK design revealed by China since 1994 and is likely to exacerbate regional anxieties that are propelling many Asian states to increase or establish submarine fleets.

Vague or altered internet images of this new SSK, which first appeared on the popular Chinese CALF web page on 10 September, led observers to think that it may be yet another Chinese internet hoax, but the submarine's existence was confirmed by much clearer images on 13 September.

While not much larger than the 3,000- to 4,000-ton Type 041 Yuan class, the new boat appears to incorporate Russian design influences, including a stouter hull with a reduced aft taper similar to the Project 667 Lada/Amur class, plus an elongated sail and hull-mounted retractable hydroplanes similar to the Project 636 Kilo class. However, in contrast to the sail of the Kilo, the new Chinese SSK incorporates hydrodynamic elements such as an intricately-faired leading edge with concave and convex curves.

180 of 729 words
Copyright © IHS (Global) Limited, 2010

buglerbilly

21-09-10, 02:54 PM

Kockums Gets Multi-Million Order to Upgrade Submarines

(Source: Kockums AB; issued Sept. 20, 2010)

(Issued in Swedish only; unofficial translation by defense-aerospace.com)

FMV has contracted Kockums AB to modify two submarines of the Gotland class, HMS Halland and Upland. An option is also available to go ahead with the submarine Gotland.

The submarines to be fitted with new management, navigation, reconnaissance and liaison equipment equivalent to those fitted to the submarine Södermanland. This equipment means that the similarity between the design of the submarines of the Gotland and Södermanland classes will allow improved operational availability and lower operating costs.

The first submarine, Halland, will be delivered in October 2011.

-ends-

buglerbilly

23-09-10, 03:05 AM

DCNS Wins Sub Contract With Pakistan

By PIERRE TRAN TOULON

Published: 22 Sep 2010 18:48

France – French naval company DCNS won a contract this summer its supply two Subtics combat management systems for Pakistan's Agosta 70 diesel-electric submarine fleet, industry executives said.

DCNS signed in June a contract for modernization of Agosta 70 boats, described as "very old subs," for an Asian country, Alain Cursat, DCNS marketing manager for submarine combat systems, told journalists. Cursat declined to identify the country. But other industry sources said Pakistan was the customer. One industry executive said the prospect of selling new submarines to Pakistan had gone cold as the Navy was modernizing its existing Agosta fleet, while a second executive said Pakistan was the only operator of the Agosta boat in the region.

Pakistan bought the Agosta diesel-electric submarine, built by DCNS, in the mid 1990s and had been looking to add to its fleet with more modern boats.

DCNS had pitched the Marlin, a submarine derived from the Scorpene boat co-developed with Spain, but the Pakistan Navy favored the rival U214 boat from German archrival Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW). The Pakistan Navy has not signed with HDW.

DCNS is expecting other contract wins for the Subtics system, notably among the fleet of U209 boats operated by South American navies, as operators look to implement a midlife upgrade of their conventional (SSK) submarines, Cursat said.

DCNS expects to capture about 10 more modernization contracts for its Subtics system over the next 10 years, he said.

A sale to Pakistan of new submarine technology is a sensitive issue as DCNS sold six Scorpene submarines to India for $3.9 billion in 2005. The boats are being built locally by Mazagon Docks but the program has fallen behind because of technical problems.

Subtics stands for submarine tactical integrated combat system. The system, which integrates sensors and weapons, can be retrofitted on boats of different manufacture, including Russian build, Cursat said.

DCNS last year signed a deal for the supply of four Scorpene type submarines to Brazil, and is helping the Brazilian Navy to design and build the non-nuclear parts of a nuclear powered submarine. The Brazilian submarine deal, including construction of a shipyard and naval base with the local joint venture partner Oderbrecht, is worth 6.7 billion euros, of which four billion goes to DCNS.

buglerbilly

30-09-10, 02:35 PM

Stops Testing of Israeli Subs

(Source: Norway Post; published Sept. 29, 2010)

Obviously this statement doesn't cover Kongsberg RWS now does it?!!! Hypocrisy anyone............:viking :f-off

The Norwegian Department of Foreign Affairs (UD) will no longer allow a German shipyard to test submarines built for Israel in Norwegian harbours and coastal waters, NRK reports.

“Norway has the strictest regulations possible on the export of goods and services in the defence field. And this means that we do not export materials or services to countries where there is war, or threat of war,” says Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

The German shipyard Thyssenkrupp has since 1997 rented a former naval base near Kristiansand for the purpose of testing new-built submarines.

The testing of subs for the Israeli Nay will now have to be carried out somewhere else.

-ends-

buglerbilly

01-10-10, 04:47 PM

Babcock Begins 1st Refit in Canada Under VISSC Contract

(Source: Babcock International; issued Sept. 17, 2010)

Babcock's Canadian Submarine Management Group (CSMG) has begun work to undertake the first Extended Docking Work Period (EDWP) under the Victoria In-Service Support Contract (VISSC), on HMCS Chicoutimi, following the award of the contract to the company by the Canadian government in June 2008. This EDWP will be a significant step towards realising Babcock's aim of becoming the long term in-service support partner of choice to Canada.

Babcock's CSMG is teamed with Victoria Shipyards as a key subcontractor to undertake refit work on the west coast, and the EDWP on Chicoutimi is being carried out in a purpose-built covered facility in Victoria Shipyards, which was completed in February this year.

HMCS Chicoutimi was transferred from Canada's east coast to Victoria Shipyards on the west coast in May 2009 under CSMG control, and has since been undergoing an Extended Lay Up and Maintenance Period. The submarine had been laid up on the east coast since suffering fire damage on her way to Canada in 2004, following reactivation at Barrow in the UK.

Work to be undertaken on Chicoutimi during the substantial 29 month EDWP includes a large system surveillance package (part of the survey and assessment activity to identify the emergent work package normally associated with a complex refit programme such as this); battery change; propulsion plant overhauls; weapon handling and launch system overhaul; fire damage repairs including a complete rebuild of the communications room; and replacement of 65% of the hull tiles; as well as 52 Engineering Changes (EC), or alterations and additions, with 16 further ECs being considered subject to approval. The original planned work alone (excluding emergent work) will involve some 650,000 manhours of production work.

Initiatives implemented to ensure on-time completion of this refit have included a pre-EDWP de-risk package, undertaken in the three months prior to commencement of the EDWP. This included survey of the external tanks and free-flood spaces, removal of control surfaces, tile survey, and survey of fire damaged areas.

In undertaking the refit, CSMG is drawing on Babcock's proven project and production control processes, tailored for application in Canada, and has seconded submarine-experienced Babcock staff to key positions within Victoria Shipyards. Babcock is the sole UK submarine platform in-service support contractor with an established track record of successful submarine refits and upgrades at Devonport, and support to operational submarines at Faslane. Babcock also leads the Submarine Support Management Group industry team which has provided engineering design and technical support services to the UK Ministry of Defence for over a decade. This extensive know-how was key to CSMG being awarded the VISSC contract.

"On-time delivery of Chicoutimi, ready for operations, is vital to Canada's overall submarine programme, and we have drawn on and applied our considerable expertise within Babcock to plan and execute this EDWP to achieve this," Babcock Integrated Technology Director Andy Nicholls commented. "Our aim is to work with Canada's Department of National Defence (DND) to improve operational availability and demonstrate value for money within an overall culture of safety."

The EDWP started in July. Flood-up is scheduled for mid-2012, with project completion in December 2012.

-ends-

buglerbilly

04-10-10, 05:11 PM

U.S. Navy scrambles to fix the $2billion stealth submarine that isn't so stealthy anymore

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 10:32 AM on 4th October 2010

A $2billion stealth submarine isn't so stealthy anymore - after chunks of its sonar absorbent skin fell off while on patrol.
The USS Virginia's hull looked pockmarked as it arrived for emergency repairs at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

The stealthy submarine could become easier to detect by enemy sonar if it lost too much of the special coating.

But the Navy insists that the sub never lost enough of the material to rise to that level and that it has moved aggressively to fix the problems.

Repair job: The attack submarine USS Virginia departing the Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut, en route to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine

'We've been aware of the issues, we're making improvements in the process, and we're seeing results already,' said Alan Baribeau, spokesman for the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C.

There has been 'no measurable impact on the ship's performance,' he insisted.

Since the Navy took delivery of the Virginia in 2004, six others like it have been built and put into service.

During the summer, the Pentagon's director of test and evaluation described a November 2009 review that found the finish peeling off in big swatches 'up to hundreds of square feet.'

The most serious problems for the so-called anechoic coating have been limited to three of the first four subs in that class, the Navy said.

The coating on the hull of the Virginia will be repaired during a regularly scheduled 14-month overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

The USS Virginia was off-limits to public viewing last week.

But there were several missing pieces visible on the 377ft sub when it arrived in Kittery last month.

The Navy acknowledges that there have been problems with the special coating that helps to make Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines stealthy

The repair process includes cutting away any loose pieces of coating before replacing the material, the Navy said.
Commander Timothy Salter, the sub's skipper, declined to comment.

The material is likened to the stealth coating on fighter jets and bombers that absorb radar's electromagnetic waves; the anechoic tiles on submarines absorb sound waves from sonar.

They help to provide stealth to modern submarines.

'If you have a significant portion of a submarine's exterior surface lacking sound-absorbent material, it's at greater risk of being detected and tracked in a way that can compromise its survivability,' said Loren Thompson, a defence analyst with the Lexington Institute.

While the Navy has used anechoic tiles for years, it instituted a new process with the USS Virginia in which the ship is coated with a 'special hull treatment,' Baribeau said.

It's described in some literature as a rubber-like substance, but the Navy won't reveal details because it's classified.
Problems with the coating on the USS Virginia were noted in 2007.

The Navy immediately began working on changes to the application process, he said.

All told, the USS Virginia, USS North Carolina and USS Texas each lost 5 per cent to 7 per cent of their special hull coatings, the Navy said.

The amount of coating peeling away has been reduced to less than 2 per cent on the USS New Mexico and USS New Hampshire. Data on the newest sub in the class, USS Missouri, isn't yet available.

Norman Polmar, a naval historian, author and analyst, agreed that the loss of part of the special coating isn't catastrophic.

And he sympathised with the engineering difficulties in finding a substance that can withstand salt water, rapidly changing water pressure and extreme cold.

But he questioned why the Navy didn't have a handle on the problem.

'We've been using anechoic coatings for almost 50 years and in that time, you'd hope that we could get it right,' he said.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1317303/US-Navy-scrambles-fix-2bn-stealth-submarine-USS-Virginia.html#ixzz11P2pImSx

Gubler, A.

04-10-10, 11:02 PM

Weasel

05-10-10, 02:57 AM

Worst news story about submarines ever. "So-called" anechoic tilees? Its hardly a contested name. Do they label such: "so-called television", "so-called newspaper printing press"... and the talking heads! Plus of course the object of the whole story. Wow stuff on a ship falls off at sea. Like that's never happened before.

What is more impressive is the pressure differential required to make the tiles pop off. How do you create that differential? I would suggest "Speed Baby!". Something the Virginia's aren't noted for.

cheers

w

Exsandgroper

06-10-10, 11:22 PM

Push to axe Collins subs now, buy European

Cameron Stewart From: The Australian October 07, 2010 12:00AM

A RADICAL plan is being pushed by a group of senior Australian submariners.
It is to retire two Collins-class submarines immediately and fast-track the purchase of four ready-made submarines from Europe.

The proposal, which has been sent to both the federal government and the opposition, reflects growing concern among some former senior naval officers that the government's plan to build 12 of the world's most sophisticated conventional submarines is flawed and unrealistic.

The proposal comes after Treasury last week urged the federal government to buy more off-the-shelf weaponry.

The former submariners say that Australia cannot afford to wait until 2025 for the new submarines and must take urgent action to buy off-the-shelf submarines from Europe to progressively replace the under-performing Collins-class fleet.

"Australia should rapidly acquire four locally built military-off-the-shelf (MOTS) submarines to address the submarine availability issue and address the growing capability gap between the Collins-class submarines and the modern submarines proliferating throughout the region," said Rex Patrick, a former submariner who assists the navy in undersea warfare training and who has authored the proposal.

"The Collins-class submarine program has been an unmitigated failure and two of the submarines should be decommissioned immediately (the HMAS Rankin and HMAS Collins) -- they are not available anyway, there are no crews for them and maintaining them is placing an ever increasing burden on the navy's budget."

The Rudd government's defence white paper committed to building 12 large, sophisticated submarines in Australia to replace the six Collins-class boats from the mid-2020s.

The plan to build 12 large homegrown submarines has been costed by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute at more than $36 billion, making it the nation's largest ever military project.

The government says it is still committed to the controversial plan, but there is growing debate in the defence community about whether such a large, complex and time-consuming project makes strategic and economic sense.

Mr Patrick argues it would be cheaper and easier for Australia to purchase proven off-the-shelf submarines from Europe, such as the German Type 214 or French Scorpenes, rather than try to build a new generation of unique, homegrown submarines like the Collins.

He said a military off-the-shelf submarine would meet Australia's strategic needs at a fraction of the cost of building a new class of Australian submarine.

Under his plan, the first boat of an initial batch of four MOTS submarines would be operational for the navy within five years and the remaining three in under eight years.

The first batch would be supplemented by two more batches of similar, but perhaps modified, design in the years ahead.

Cheers

buglerbilly

08-10-10, 02:57 AM

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

Stealthy Chinese?

Posted by Christina Mackenzie at 10/7/2010 8:58 AM CDT

Has China cracked the secret of building stealth submarines? Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that “Sketchy photos of a new conventionally powered submarine - the third generation produced since 1994 - appeared on private Chinese websites three weeks ago and raised a few eyebrows initially.”

But then last week the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation disclosed that the Wuhan shipyard had built a new submarine and gave details of the craft.

"The talk in our community is that we are seeing the first signs of a completed new design," the SCMP quoted one Asian military expert as saying. "The question is ... just how quiet have they been able to make it? Stealth is everything when it comes to submarines and at some point China is going to finally crack it."

Unless they have already done so. Da Liang Long, a professor at the PLA Navy's Submarine Academy has won an award from the Central Military Commission for his "considerable" work on submarine stealth technology, reports the People's Liberation Army Daily.

"Naval officials in the region say encounters between submarines are increasing. Such encounters will become more frequent as countries such as Japan, Korea, Australia, Vietnam and Indonesia expand and update their submarine fleets in the face of China's rising military strength. The PLA will soon have more submarines than the United States Navy," the SCMP added.

Weasel

08-10-10, 10:53 AM

buglerbilly

08-10-10, 04:21 PM

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

Argentina Wants a Third TR-1700 Submarine

Posted by Christina Mackenzie at 10/8/2010 8:14 AM CDT

Argentina is planning to build, or rather finish building, its own submarine based on a design it bought from Thyssen in Germany in 1977.

The Santa Fe is part of the agreement signed in 1977 for Thyssen to supply six ships, two TR-1700s built in Germany, two in Argentina and two smaller TR-1400s also to be built in Argentina. This agreement was modified in 1982 to six TR-1700s.

The first two submarines, the Santa Cruz and San Juan, were delivered on schedule in 1984-85. They were the largest submarines built in Germany since World War II. The remaining four were suspended during the Argentinian economic crisis of the 1980s.

The Santa Fe submarine was 70% finished (according to El Argentino website, 52% according to most others) when work on it stopped in 1994. But it has since been cannibalized to provide spare-parts for the Santa Cruz and San Juan. The 2,300-ton submarine is 68.6 meters long and 8 meters in diameter.

Exsandgroper

15-10-10, 04:16 AM

European subs 'no match for local'

Brendan Nicholson From: The Australian October 15, 2010 12:00AM

THE navy has fired back at critics of its push to have 12 new submarines built in Australia.
It says an "off-the-shelf" European boat would not have the range or capability to hit targets far away in wartime.

Navy Chief Vice-Admiral Russ Crane suggested the answer could be a bigger version of the Australian-built Collins-class submarine.

It would also have a state-of-the-art propulsion system to allow it to cruise deep underwater for long periods.

A big advantage of a nuclear submarine is that it does not need to surface to run its diesel engines and recharge the batteries.

Andrew Davies, of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, has calculated that to build the boats in Australia, as the government plans to do, would cost about $35 billion -- three times the cost of a fleet of French or German submarines.

Vice-Admiral Crane said that estimate was fairly crude but not entirely unreasonable.

"Until we do the assessment of cost versus capability, I don't think we really know yet what the detailed figure might be."

But he said the idea of buying a submarine "off the shelf" in Europe did not accord with the philosophy of having a national submarine capability.

"It isn't as simple as saying a couple of Scorpene submarines from France can replace our Collins-class submarines because they cannot. They cannot go anywhere near the capability of our Collins-class submarines."

Cheers

rawcs

15-10-10, 05:40 AM

Diving in at the deep end (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/diving-in-at-the-deep-end/story-e6frg6z6-1225938867563)

* Cameron Stewart, Associate editor
* From: The Australian
* October 15, 2010 12:00AM

WITH the government planning to spend $36bn building 12 new submarines, debate is raging about the wisdom of the project.

THE Gillard government's plan to build 12 new-generation submarines in Australia carries with it enormous political, strategic and financial risks.

It will be easily the largest and most complex defence project attempted in this country.

If it goes right it will give the navy its most deadly weapon while also safeguarding the future of the naval shipbuilding industry.

If it goes wrong, it could jeopardise national security and trigger the single largest waste of taxpayer funds since Federation, making spending scandals such as Building the Education Revolution and the pink batts scheme seem like small change.

Yet ever since the plan was announced in the defence white paper in June last year, there has been a paucity of debate surrounding a project the Australian Strategic Policy Institute says could cost an astonishing $36 billion.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
Related Coverage

* European subs 'no match for local' The Australian, 14 hours ago
* Replace ailing Collins or risk security: Libs The Australian, 7 days ago
* Push to axe Collins subs now, buy European The Australian, 8 days ago
* No-show by subs slammed The Australian, 5 Aug 2010
* It's up to us, says Collins sub boss The Australian, 4 Jul 2010

End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.

But now it seems that is changing. A group of former submariners, including at least two former commanders, have called on the government to rethink its plans to build the world's most sophisticated conventional submarines, saying the idea is flawed and unrealistic.

The opposition has also questioned the government's plan, saying the Collins-class submarines are so beset with technical problems they are unlikely to last until their planned retirement in 2025. In these circumstances, says opposition defence spokesman David Johnston, the only option for Australia may be to purchase military off-the-shelf submarines from Europe, rather than wait to build a largely home-grown submarine.

"It is becoming a situation where the choices are so limited that military off-the-shelf submarines are almost the only option in the short term if we are to continue to have a viable [submarine] capability," Johnston says.

The suggestion that Australia may need to buy European submarines off the shelf and modify them for Australian conditions has angered the navy and the Submarine Institute of Australia.

The navy has fired back, saying European submarines would be unsuited to Australia's needs for long-range patrols deep into the northern hemisphere.

"It isn't as simple as saying a couple of Scorpene submarines from France can replace our Collins-class submarines, because they cannot," navy chief Russ Crane tells The Australian. "They cannot go anywhere near the capability of our Collins-class submarines."

Crane says European boats do not have the range required for

the Australian navy and would be inconsistent with the philosophy of having a national submarine capability.

"It doesn't appreciate, in my view, our strategic reality here in Australia and you can't divorce yourself from your geography. We are an island nation in a particular part of the world.

"That's why Collins was built the way it was, to give us extended range, extended endurance. That's why we didn't then go down the route of buying off-the-shelf small submarines from other nations."

So far, the government has remained silent on the details of its grand plan. It says only that the

12 new submarines will be constructed in Adelaide, but it does

not say whether the new boats will be an existing European military submarine constructed here under licence and modified for Australian conditions, or a completely new class of submarine like the Collins.

This looms as one of the Gillard government's most important decisions, but the likelihood is that it will punt on the ability of local industry to produce a largely home-grown submarine, or "son

of Collins".

Non-defence issues are also at play. Labor sees the project as a nation-building exercise, boasting that it would "contribute to the modernisation of the Australian manufacturing industry".

This annoys some, who say any decision should be guided only by Australia's strategic needs. One former submarine commander, who asked not to be named, says: "The aim of the submarine project is to provide the best submarine capability to Australia for the best value. That does not include nation-building exercises such as creating a design and development capability for submarines in Australia."

The downside of building home-grown submarines is the cost and risk. Apart from the possible $36bn price tag, the project would be prone to the same sort of first-of-class technical setbacks that afflicted the six Collins-class boats and which have haunted that fleet ever since.

Former defence science minister Greg Combet once admitted the project would be "at the margins of our present scientific and technological capability" and it would be "the most complex and sophisticated industrial project ever pursued in this country".

The Treasury and some in the Defence Department believe the financial risk in building home-grown submarines is too great, and say it makes more economic sense to buy ready-made boats.

Off-the-shelf military purchases are viewed more favourably after several recent successes, including the F/A-18 Super Hornets, the C-17 transport planes and the Abrams tanks. Each of these capabilities has been or is being delivered on time, on budget and in good working order.

One alternative to developing a new class of home-grown submarine is to purchase the rights to a tried and tested submarine, such as the German, Spanish or French subs. This would be substantially cheaper, at about $12bn for a dozen submarines that could be constructed under licence in Adelaide with less technical risk.

But are they good enough to meet the navy's needs?

The defence white paper called for the construction of the world's largest and most advanced conventional submarines with numerous extras to carry out long-range missions. Such a boat would likely be about 4000 to 4500 tonnes, compared with the 3500 tonne Collins. European submarines are much smaller at between 1400 tonnes and 2400 tonnes, and they carry fewer weapons and have a shorter range.

At its core, the submarine debate requires a cool-headed judgment about what Australian industry is capable of and the costs and risks associated with that. The only reference point for this is the Collins-class experience.

But the beauty of the Collins is in the eye of the beholder.

"These are extremely capable submarines," Crane says. "They suffer in reputation through events that happened many years ago. I would like to think that given the capability we get out

of Collins today, a Collins reinvented and updated for the future is an option."

But critics say the Collins experience is the reason why Australia should not try to repeat the experiment on a grander scale. They point to the present state of the fleet, which has two of its six submarines almost permanently in dry dock, with barely two submarines available for operations at any one time because of technical, maintenance or manpower issues.

Retired submariner Bill Owen, Australia's first submarine squadron commander, is part of a vocal minority that believes Australia cannot afford to risk a repeat of the Collins-class project.

"The Collins have been a disaster in every way and we can't afford to be idealistic any more [about home-grown submarines]," he says.

"They involve a huge level of technical and operational risk. Going for a military off-the-shelf option would greatly reduce that operational and financial risk.

"We need to get a really well-proven submarine from overseas and start all over again," according to Owen.

He supports a proposal recently submitted to the government by a former submariner, Rex Patrick, which calls for the early retirement of two Collins-class boats and the early purchase of an initial batch of four ready-made submarines from Europe, to be followed by two more batches in the years ahead.

Patrick argues that the alleged shortcomings of European submarines have been overstated by those who support a home-grown model.

ASPI analyst Andrew Davies believes there should be an honest, up-front debate about the relative merits of European submarines versus home-grown boats. He points out that the shorter range of the European submarines could be partly offset if they operated more frequently out of forward allied bases such as Guam.

Former submarine commander Peter Briggs says there would still be significant technical risk in choosing a ready-made European submarine, because it would need to be heavily modified to suit Australian conditions and strategic requirements.

"Once you start to adapt a submarine you are heightening your risk more than you would be by giving a designer a clean sheet of paper," he says.

"If you want to adapt a design by adding fuel or batteries or whatever, you start running into the laws of physics of submarine design. These [European boats] are like a Swiss watch: they are beautifully built for the Baltic Sea or the Mediterranean but they are totally not designed for the conditions we operate in."

The Submarine Institute of Australia's president Peter Horobin also believes the smaller European submarines would not be able to carry out the prescriptive requirements for Australian vessels outlined in the defence white paper.

He is adamant that the Collins-class project has been a success and says the Collins boats should provide the base for a new home-grown submarine.

"One of the options must surely be to evolve from Collins itself, so you would take the lessons learned from Collins forward into a larger boat design," he says.

But the man who oversaw the building of the Collins-class fleet, former Australian Submarine Corporation chief Hans Ohff, says the Collins experience will be of little use in building a next-generation submarine.

"I am of the view that the Collins cannot be evolved," Ohff says. "It is a 1980s technology and today you would have a totally different shape, different components. You cannot take a 1980s design and make a 2020 design."

The problems of the Collins-class fleet have led the federal opposition to call for a more serious examination of the European submarine option.

Johnston says the Collins fleet is unlikely to remain viable until 2025, which is considered the earliest date by which a largely home-grown submarine would be available. He believes buying ready-made European submarines potentially makes strategic and economic sense rather than allowing the Collins class fleet to limp along for the next 15 years.

"The only solution I can see is that you go to Europe and get something in train quickly," he says. "As time goes by the options available to the Australian government become more and more limited. Urgent leadership from the government is desperately required now."

Additional reporting: Brendan Nicholson

Zen9

15-10-10, 02:21 PM

This is getting silly! "European submarines" in which all that is mentioned ins SSKs from France and Germany. So in comes the counter argument about range and enviroment and even capabilities.

Is this now a case of 'anything but nukes' now?

Gubler, A.

15-10-10, 02:54 PM

It’s always been a case of NO nukes. This stuff about acquiring SSKs as opposed to SSGs is all in the same boat as the F-22 crowd. Defence has a requirement for a type of submarine capability that has been signed off by six successive governments to date. The requirement stays solid it’s the solution that fits it. None of these Euro SSKs fit the solution.

ADMk2

15-10-10, 04:00 PM

Gubler, A.

16-10-10, 12:50 AM

That old saying, 'perfect is the enemy of good enough' seems extremely applicable in the case of RAN submarine squadron, sice we replaced the 'O' boats...

This is the problem with just using names like ‘European’ to describe capability. The Oberon class was not a SSK it was a SS. The Collins was not a SSK it is a SSG. The K stands for hunter-killer and is a particular type of submarine designed to have shorter range between its patrol area and home base. The Oberon and Collins were designed to have the transit and patrol endurance needed by the RAN. The Oberon was twice as big as its other ‘European’ technological contemporaries because back in that day the RN still had a Pacific theatre mission.

It’s not a case of perfect or good enough. An SSK is NOT good enough. A boat like the Type 21X, Scorpene, etc can not operate from potential submarine bases in Australia and patrol in the required areas. The later being from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Japan. These boats lack the transit speed and the endurance to do anything other than sail all the way to these patrol areas say G’Day turn around and sail all the way home.

As to the problems with Collins I don’t see how they would not be replicated with importing another design from overseas. How many license production programs have gone astray in Australia based on the simplistic belief that license makes things easier. The only license production projects that haven’t been a stuff up in the past 30 years were/are (AFAIK) Hamel, Hornet, Anzac, ASLAV and Hawk. As for the rest Collins, F88, Sea Sprite, ARH, M113AS4, MRH, AWD, LHD the less said the better. Frankly its probably better to design from scratch for the Australian industry rather than import when you have a sophisticated level of domestic capability (as in submarines).

Milne Bay

16-10-10, 01:08 AM

This is the problem with just using names like ‘European’ to describe capability. The Oberon class was not a SSK it was a SS. The Collins was not a SSK it is a SSG. The K stands for hunter-killer and is a particular type of submarine designed to have shorter range between its patrol area and home base. The Oberon and Collins were designed to have the transit and patrol endurance needed by the RAN. The Oberon was twice as big as its other ‘European’ technological contemporaries because back in that day the RN still had a Pacific theatre mission.

It’s not a case of perfect or good enough. An SSK is NOT good enough. A boat like the Type 21X, Scorpene, etc can not operate from potential submarine bases in Australia and patrol in the required areas. The later being from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Japan. These boats lack the transit speed and the endurance to do anything other than sail all the way to these patrol areas say G’Day turn around and sail all the way home.

As to the problems with Collins I don’t see how they would not be replicated with importing another design from overseas. How many license production programs have gone astray in Australia based on the simplistic belief that license makes things easier. The only license production projects that haven’t been a stuff up in the past 30 years were/are (AFAIK) Hamel, Hornet, Anzac, ASLAV and Hawk. As for the rest Collins, F88, Sea Sprite, ARH, M113AS4, MRH, AWD, LHD the less said the better. Frankly its probably better to design from scratch for the Australian industry rather than import when you have a sophisticated level of domestic capability (as in submarines).

Abe what are the problems with AWD and LHD?
I was under the impression that these are on time, on task and on budget.
Puzzled
MB

Gubler, A.

16-10-10, 02:33 AM

Abe what are the problems with AWD and LHD?
I was under the impression that these are on time, on task and on budget.

Neither project has encountered any of the significant construction hurdles. But that is not the problem. Its C4I integration. Defence are in crisis mode trying to make both combat systems for the ships work. It isn't looking good.

Milne Bay

16-10-10, 02:57 AM

Neither project has encountered any of the significant construction hurdles. But that is not the problem. Its C4I integration. Defence are in crisis mode trying to make both combat systems for the ships work. It isn't looking good.

Thanks Abe.
Are these the same systems the the Spanish use or are from the US? - or are we developing a unique Australian solution?
MB

buglerbilly

21-10-10, 02:49 PM

Singapore Navy Launches Second Archer-Class Submarine

(Source: Singapore Ministry of Defence; issued Oct. 20, 2010)

RSS Swordsman, launched on Oct. 20, is the second of two Swedish navy submarines that have been rebuilt, life-extended and modernized for Singapore. (S’Pore MoD photo)

Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence, Dr Ng Eng Hen, officiated at the launch ceremony of the Republic of Singapore Navy's (RSN) Archer-class submarine RSS Swordsman at the Kockums Shipyard in Karlskrona, Sweden, today. The submarine was launched by Mrs Ivy Ng, wife of Dr Ng. RSS Swordsman was the second of the Archer-class submarines that the RSN acquired from the Royal Swedish Navy (RSwN).

Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Ng highlighted that the launch of RSS Swordsman marked another key milestone in the RSN's drive to develop its submarine capability. "The RSN’s submarines are part of an integrated warfighting system which includes our stealth frigates, naval helicopters, missile corvettes and mine-countermeasure vessels", he said. "Together with the Challenger-class submarines, RSS Archer and RSS Swordsman will enable the RSN to better fulfill its mission of protecting Singapore’s sea lines of communication and territorial integrity." As part of his visit to Karlskrona, Dr Ng also met with Sweden's Defence Minister, Sten Tolgfors, who attended the launch ceremony for RSS Swordsman.

The launch of RSS Swordsman reflects the strong defence partnership and longstanding friendship between Singapore and Sweden. Both countries share a close defence relationship founded on many shared interests, which stretches back to the 1970s. Over the years, Singapore's defence relationship with Sweden has matured to encompass wide-ranging interactions and collaborative projects such as the assistance provided by the RSwN to build the RSN's mine counter-measure force and submarine capability.

Dr Ng earlier visited Stockholm on 18 Oct 2010 to meet with Mr Jan Björklund, Swedish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education, and signed an agreement to encourage further education collaborations between Sweden and Singapore.

(ends)

Navy Launches RSS Swordsman Submarine

(Source: Republic of Singapore Navy; issued Oct. 21, 2010)

The Republic of Singapore's (RSN's) RSS Swordsman, its second Archer-class submarine, was launched by Mrs Ivy Ng, the wife of Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen, at the Kockums Shipyard in Karlskrona, Sweden, on 20 Oct.

In Dr Ng's opening address at the launch ceremony, he highlighted that the launch of RSS Swordsman underlines the RSN's drive to develop its submarine capability.

"The RSN's submarines are part of an integrated warfighting system which includes our stealth frigates, naval helicopters, missile corvettes and mine countermeasure vessels," he said. "Together with the Challenger-class submarines, RSS Archer and RSS Swordsman will enable the RSN to better fulfill its mission of protecting Singapore's sea lines of communication and territorial integrity."

The submarine was acquired from the Royal Swedish Navy (RSwN) and follows the first Archer-class submarine RSS Archer's launch in June 2009. Together with the Challenger-class submarines, this addition to the fleet adds on to the RSN's capability to protect Singapore's sea lines of communication and territorial integrity.

Similar to its sister vessel, the RSS Swordsman has been extended with a modern suite of combat and sensor systems which allows it to detect and engage targets from greater distances.

Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Loh Mun Heng, Commanding Officer of RSS Swordsman, said: "Like RSS Archer, RSS Swordsman brings with it technology that improves and challenges the air-surface warfare capabilities, improving the RSN's fleet and providing better options in the field."

Military Expert (ME) 3 Tay Chay Yong, Combat Operations Expert and coxswain for RSS Swordsman compared the submarine to a space shuttle: "A submarine sails independently, just like a space shuttle out in space. Anything that happens on board will have to be solved by the crew. Therefore, it underlines the complexity and importance of the training involved where everyone needs to be well-versed in the engineering and combat systems of the submarine."

The launch of RSS Swordsman also emphasises the ongoing defence partnership and close friendship between Singapore and Sweden. ME1 Nagarajan s/o Muthusamy, Underwater Weapons Operator, attributed it to his Swedish counterparts going the extra mile over the course of two years of training, resulting in a positive bond forged between the Singaporean and Swedish Navy.

"The Swedes bring our working relations past office hours, if I need help with anything, I can call them at any time. They are also very patient, always willing to teach us again and again without getting irritated. Even away from work, we spend time together enjoying leisure activities such as fishing or floorball," he said.

As a result of this close bond, one which has been reaffirmed and built upon over the last 40 years, Singapore's defence relationship with Sweden has matured to encompass wide-ranging interactions and collaborative projects such as the assistance provided by the RSwN to build the RSN's mine-countermeasure force and submarine capability.

"Sweden and Singapore are both nations which believe in building a defence force for deterrence… Therefore, what brings us together is this common ideology about defence," explained LTC Loh.

With the launch of the RSS Swordsman, the submarine crew has come away not only prepared for the challenges ahead, but also with a healthy respect for, as well as a strong rapport with, their Swedish counterparts.

Said ME3 Tay: "Working with our Swedish counterparts, who are open, innovative and not afraid to try new things, has helped our relatively young crew to experience and learn more."

(ends)

Kockums Launches Submarine for Singapore Navy

(Source: Kockums AB; issued October 20, 2010)

RSS Swordsman was launched today with pomp and circumstance. The submarine is the second in the Northern Light project under which two Västergötland class submarines, previously owned by the Swedish Navy, have been rebuilt, life-extended and modernised.

The Singapore Navy is therefore receiving the very latest in submarine technology, including world-class stealth technology. Training of the crew is co-ordinated with the Swedish Navy at the naval base in Karlskrona.

The importance of the submarine is increasing, not least due to its ability to conduct covert reconnaissance. With stealth technology, it can see and hear everything from great distances without being detected itself. This is important for a country’s own defence as well as for joint international security efforts. Today, threats arise not only from regular military forces but also from terrorism and piracy. A modern submarine force must therefore be flexible enough to meet both conventional and nonconventional types of threats, says Kockums CEO Ola Alfredsson.

The government has decided to proceed with the next generation of Swedish submarines. Kockums has been asked to take charge of the design phase, and a government decision has been taken on the production phase. This means that Sweden will remain at the forefront of submarine technology, while opening up export opportunities.

“We are extremely proud of today’s launch of RSS Swordsman. Our work demonstrates that Kockums is on the leading edge of stealth technology and flexible solutions for tomorrow’s submarines and that we work very well with foreign as well as with Swedish customers,” concludes Mr Alfredsson.

-ends-

buglerbilly

23-10-10, 04:00 AM

Japan Boosts Its Submarine Fleet

Posted by Bradley Perrett at 10/22/2010 8:24 AM CDT

Japan's decision to increase the size of its submarine force to 24 from 18 is a major response to the rise of Chinese military power and presumably not the last.

A rise in any force level for a developed country is unusual, because unit costs grow faster than economies.

At some stage, Japan's sacred (if somewhat theoretical) rule limiting defense spending to 1% of economic output should come under pressure. If it does not, and if China fails to throttle back on defense spending, then the Japanese forces' power in relation to those of China will decline according to their relative GDP growth rates.

Although Japanese news reports play up the significance of poor current relations between the two countries because of a territorial dispute, it is surely long-term thinking that has driven the decision.

The move on the submarine fleet is historic, since the submarine force has been kept at 17 or 18 for about 20 years.

A brisk building program has commenced work on one boat every fiscal year since 1978 (and at almost that rate since 1960). So the number in service has been about the same as the decomissioning age in years.

In 1980 the oldest Japanese submarine, among 14 in service, was only 15. By the early 1990s they were kept running for a little longer, and so the number in service was 17, edging up to 18 this decade.

So the rise to 24 is pretty dramatic by Japanese standards. The building rate will be unchanged, so each submarine will be kept running for 24 years, much closer to a normal operational life.

The force can rise as quickly as one a year by suspending all decommissionings until 24 is reached in 2016, but Japan has not said how quickly the force will rise. The details should appear in a formal announcement in the defence policy guideline -- a sort of white paper -- due before the end of the year.

While building costs will not rise, the considerable expense of running the submarines will, presumably by more than a third, since old submarines can be expected to cost more to run than new ones. A bigger rolling modernization program will probably be needed, too.

The fleet could rise further in the future, but at some point the building program would have to step up a notch. One issue could be the designed fatigue life of the hulls, which one might reasonably suspect to be short, given the long policy of early retirement.

Don't be confused by Japanese media reports saying the fleet is rising from 16 to 22. Those figures do not count two submarines that are always assigned to training duties. They could surely be reassigned to war operations in the blink of an eye.

Picture credit: Japanese Ministry of Defense

Exsandgroper

23-10-10, 07:04 AM

Thales sees detector array as world beater
Julian Kerr From: The Australian October 23, 2010 12:00AM

SPECIAL REPORT
AN innovative fibre-optic towed array (FOTA) under joint development by Thales Australia and the Defence Scientific and Technical Organisation could provide Australia with a unique and world-beating anti-submarine detection capability.
Conventional towed arrays, used on submarines and surface ships for the long-range detection of other submarines, typically comprise a copper-based cable that can be more than 1km long, with hundreds of hydrophones.

Such arrays typically have a diameter of more than 40mm.

Their bulk and weight require significant storage space and a powerful winch on the host vessel, while the signals from the electrically powered piezoceramic hydrophones require boosting by pre-amplifiers and are prone to degradation.

By contrast, the FOTA under development, based on Fibre Laser Sensor (FLS) technology, is less than 20mm in diameter, creating less drag and making it easier to install, accommodate and operate.

FLS devices embedded inside the core of the fibre optic cable change shape microscopically when they pick up the underwater noise -- acoustic pressures -- made by ships or submarines.

This change in dimensions is used to transmit the acoustic information via a light signal back along the cable to the host vessel, where onboard processors analyse the data from sensors to provide information on the location, type and heading of the target.

Since no power is needed at the hydrophone end of the FOTA, the thick and heavy copper cables and electronics necessary in a conventional array to conduct electricity to the sensors are not needed. The low attenuation of optical signals potentially enables a FOTA to be several kilometres long, with a consequent improvement in capability.

According to Chris Jenkins, managing director of Thales Australia, a comparable FOTA would be about one-tenth of the weight of the Kariwara conventional towed arrays deployed on the RAN's Collins-class submarines. "The fibre optics change it from tonnes to fractions of tonnes and you end up with a very small diameter array, a very light and reliable array, and consequently a very low-cost array for submarines and surface ships or, thinking of the future, for unmanned underwater vehicles", he said.

The FOTA is still a work in progress. The project received a boost in July when it was named as one of eight innovative proposals to receive funding under Defence's Capability and Technology Demonstrator (CTD) program.

Earlier related CTD funding was received by the company in 2006-2008 to help develop FLS for rapidly deployable seabed surveillance arrays for harbour or ship protection, a different execution of what basically is the same technology.

However, the genesis of the program stretches back to 2002 -- a salutary reminder of the time necessary to bring a concept to reality -- when an agreement was signed between DSTO and the then-Thales Underwater Systems to collaborate in developing FLS technology.

This agreement recognised not only the possible defence applications but also the additional potential for FLS in the oil and gas sector, a major user of conventional towed arrays for exploration purposes and a big export earner for Thales Australia.

The program's future hangs on the outcome of the two-year CTD period. A successful outcome would confirm FLS as a viable technology for a future defence application, and would allow Thales to move to product development.

Thumbs down would leave Thales with the option of continuing to self-fund a technology in which it passionately believes, and in which it envisages substantial export opportunities.

Losing the contract for the Air Warfare Destroyer sonar suite to British competitor Ultra Electronics was a bitter blow to Thales.

So the company clearly sees FLS as a potential way of regaining its previous domestic dominance in sonar technology.

Cheers

Exsandgroper

23-10-10, 11:58 PM

Test of strength for ADF
Brendan Nicholson, Defence editor From: The Australian October 23, 2010 12:00AM

SPECIAL REPORT

THE Australian Defence Force is about to enter a year of major challenges, with the war in Afghanistan in a crucial and dangerous phase, decisions to be made on the building of a potent new submarine fleet and big concerns about how a mass of expensive new hardware will be paid for.
ADF chief Angus Houston told The Australian progress was being made in Afghanistan, but he warned of tough going ahead and the likelihood of more Australian casualties.

"The momentum is shifting our way," Air Chief Marshal Houston said.

He said the International Security Assistance Force and the Afghan security forces were blunting the insurgency, taking back areas long held by the Taliban and putting sustained pressure on its leadership through high-tempo special forces operations.

"But the coming period will be tough. As we intensify pressure on the Taliban, the possibility of further casualties remains."

Air Chief Marshal Houston said ISAF, including Australia, would have achieved its mission when Afghan forces were able to manage security without the need for international combat forces.

"Afghanistan has declared its intention that Afghan national security forces should lead and conduct military operations in all provinces by the end of 2014," he said. "This will mean that Afghan forces are providing essential security to the Afghan people, and that they will also have the lead in denying terrorists sanctuary within their borders."

Australia's commitment to train the Afghan Army's 4th Brigade so it could assume lead security responsibility for Uruzgan in two to four years was consistent with the Afghan government's intention, he said.

On the issue of negotiating with the Taliban, Air Chief Marshal Houston said the government had made it clear that the insurgency would not end through military force alone.

"We recognise there is a need for political processes to move Afghanistan forward," he said.

Reconciliation was an Afghan matter and must be led by the Afghan government, he said.

Australia had committed $25 million to the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Trust Fund set up to encourage fighters to lay down their arms, accept the Afghan constitution and return to society. So far $6m of that money had been used.

And while Australia escaped the worst consequences of the global financial crisis, its shadow still hangs over Defence.

According to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's budget wizard, Mark Thompson, the GFC had a profound effect on defence spending across the developed world and many countries cutback significantly. While Australia may have emerged relatively unscathed from the GFC, the world-wide slump dealt a hard blow to the government's plans to modernise and expand the ADF, Dr Thomson said. "There may be worse yet to come."

The man with ultimate responsibility for spending a large slice of defence funding is Chief of Navy, Vice-Admiral Russ Crane, who is under pressure to find a cheaper way to obtain 12 new submarines.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute's Andrew Davies has calculated that to build the boats in Australia, as the government plans to do, would cost about $35 billion. It is estimated that buying a fleet of French or German submarines "off the shelf"' would cost a third of that. Vice-Admiral Crane said the estimate was fairly crude but not entirely unreasonable. "Until we do the assessment of cost versus capability I don't think we really know yet what the detailed figure might be. Cost clearly is a factor that the government has got to consider."

Vice-Admiral Crane said the navy wanted to offer a solution that provided a whole national submarine capability. And he was keen to see an informed debate about what was needed with a realistic understanding of the geographical challenges.

One option to be considered was a larger version of the navy's six Collins-class submarines with a state-of-the-art propulsion system to allow it to cruise deep under water for long periods.

"I would like to think that, given the capability we get out of Collins today, a Collins reinvented and updated for the future is an option," he said. "That's one of the options I'm sure the government will be interested in.

"It isn't as simple as saying a couple of Scorpene submarines from France can replace our Collins-class submarines because they cannot. They cannot go anywhere near the capability of our Collins-class submarines. They are state of the art and, frankly, people who might wish to go up against Australian submarines think twice. These are extremely capable submarines. They suffer in reputation through events that happened many years ago."

If the boats were designed and built in Australia they could be modified as required as they were built and maintained.

"I think we learned some pretty solid lessons out of Collins where we built six submarines and the focus wasn't necessarily on what happens after that," Vice-Admiral Crane said. "In the future submarine I think we've got to take a much more strategic view of the capability we are trying to bring into Australia and make sure that capability can be managed, operated, sustained from the national base." That did not mean overseas expertise would not be used, Vice-Admiral Crane said. "It does mean we'll have the capability here in Australia."

He said the idea of buying a submarine "off the shelf" in Europe did not accord with the philosophy of having a national submarine capability. "It also doesn't appreciate, in my view, our strategic reality here in Australia and you can't divorce yourself from your geography. We are an island nation in a particular part of the world."

Issues of range and endurance had always dominated submarine issues in Australia, he said.

"That's why Collins was built the way it was, to give us extended range, extended endurance. That's why we didn't then go down the route of buying, off the shelf, small submarines from other nations."

Vice-Admiral Crane conceded it would be much cheaper to buy submarines off the shelf but said one of his staff had made the comparison with a motorist switching from a Toyota Landcruiser to a Holden Barina.

"The Barina still works, but it doesn't do the same job. It doesn't do, perhaps, what you need to do."

Naval architects had told him it was not feasible simply to take a small European submarine, cut it in half and add a new hull section, or "plug", to carry extra fuel and equipment.

Any significant change to the size or shape of a submarine could have critical impact on the vessel.

"Any time you go near a submarine with a modification there are significant implications for things like weight and stability margins, growth margins, power margins -- and they all become absolutely critical to the operation of the submarine."

One option might be using such a plug to extend the bigger Collins design. That might mean putting an extra hull section and an air-independent propulsion system into the Collins design, Vice-Admiral Crane said.

A big advantage a nuclear submarine has over a conventional submarine is that it does not need to surface, or to use a snorkel device close to the surface to run its diesel engines and recharge the batteries for electric motors that drive the boat when it is at depth.

A conventional submarine with an air-independent system can use liquid oxygen stored in tanks to run generators and produce an air supply.

The new submarines were likely to be bigger than the 3500-tonne Collins at around 4000 to 4500 tonnes, but probably not look significantly different.

"For the Australian strategic environment that is the sort of thing I think we're going to need," Vice-Admiral Crane said.

Dr Davies said the government must decide exactly it wanted the submarines to be able to do, against whom and in what circumstances. "Last year's Defence white paper described a veritable smorgasbord of submarine capabilities which would likely result in a large and complex vessel pushing the boundaries of conventional submarine engineering."

Dr Davies said the issue of the boat's range could be dealt with if it operated from an allied base some distance from Australia so that transit times would be reduced and operational patrols extended.

"A submarine with 60-day endurance and a transit speed of 10 knots would use 30 days, or half of its voyage time, transiting to and from the South China Sea when operating out of Fremantle. But the same submarine operating from the US base at Guam would lose only 10 days in transit."

Cheers

Riđđu

26-10-10, 08:22 PM

Came up with this somewhat odd French concept submarine with high 38 knots surface speed and only 100 meters max depth, which kind of makes it more like a submerging frigate. Pardon the choice of language.

DCNS concepts ships: the SMX-25

Magazine DSI

As it does for each Euronaval exhibition, DCNS presents its completed and available R&D projects, in this case the SMX-25 and the Advansea. The SMX-25 has as its goal the rapid projection into a theater of operations of a vessel which would exploit both the advantages of a submarine and those of a surface ship. Conceived to operate on the surface at 38 knots (10 knots submerged), the SMX-25 has three gas turbines and three water jets. Carrying 16 missiles, 4 heavy torpedoes and machine guns, it can fight on the surface as well as underwater, while being able to use UUVs or UAVs. A vessel able to take into account the need to act against land objectives and littoral combat, it will carry, in addition to its 27 crew members, some ten special forces, while displacing 4,850 tons submerged and 2,850 tons surfaced. With a length of 109 m (354 ft), acoustically discreet, and benefiting from stealth design, it is a vessel capable of reconnaissance as well as combat or intelligence missions. (Euronaval Stand B1)

***

SMX-25 : DCNS dévoile son concept de sous-marin de surface

Mer et Marine 26/10/2010

Le SMX-25 crédits : DCNS

C'est le dernier-né des concept-ships sous-marins de DCNS. Présenté à l'occasion du salon Euronaval, le SMX-25 mesure 109 mètres de long pour un déplacement d'environ 3000 tonnes en plongée. Comme d'habitude, les ingénieurs sont partis sur un axe de travail précis et ont développé un concept répondant aux besoins. Cette fois, il s'agissait de pouvoir déployer rapidement, sur un théâtre d'opération, un bâtiment dépourvu de propulsion nucléaire. Le SMX-25 a donc été taillé pour la course, avec une carène optimisée pour les navigations en surface. Long et effilé, le sous-marin de DCNS dispose d'un appareil propulsif particulièrement puissant. Une turbine à gaz et trois hydrojets assurent au bâtiment une vitesse de 38 noeuds et, à cette allure, une autonomie de 2000 nautiques. Pour la turbine à gaz et les moteurs diesels, une cheminée, située sur le massif, accueille les échappements et entrées d'air. En plongée, ces ouvertures sont, évidemment, automatiquement fermées. Une fois sur zone, le SMX-25 peut naviguer en plongée, s'appuyant notamment sur des pods (moteurs électriques placés dans des nacelles) permettant d'améliorer la manoeuvrabilité.

Le SMX-25 (© : DCNS)

Le SMX-25 (© : DCNS)

Rétractables, ces pods sont, durant les phases de transit, rentrés dans la coque. On notera aussi la présence de grandes barres de plongée. Leur taille permet, en effet, de maintenir la plateforme dans une situation de semi-surface. Seul le massif, dont les formes sont furtives, émerge alors de la surface de la mer. Demeurant très discret, le SMX-25 se comporte alors comme un navire de surface, tout en étant beaucoup plus discret, avec une signature visuelle et radar très faible. En plus de ses moyens de détection fournis par des mâts optroniques et radars, le sous-marin peut utiliser des silos de lancement vertical logés dans son large kiosque. Ces cellules peuvent abriter des missiles de croisière et, aussi, des missiles antiaériens pour assurer une défense contre avions ou hélicoptères. Le bâtiment dispose enfin de capacités pour mettre en oeuvre des commandos. Au sein d'une force navale, le SMX-25 est plutôt vu comme un éclaireur, chargé par exemple de recueillir des renseignements, ou bien, grâce à ses moyens d'action vers la terre (nettoyage de plages par des commandos ou frappes contre des cibles terrestre via ses missiles de croisière) de préparer une zone à l'arrivée d'une force de projection. Il n'est, en revanche, pas optimisé pour le combat sous-marin, sa dotation, défensive, se limitant à quatre torpilles prêtes à tirer dans quatre tubes situés à la proue.
On notera que ce concept-ship ne nécessite pas de rupture technologique. Concrètement, si un client en exprimait aujourd'hui le besoin, ce sous-marin pourrait être construit.

Le SMX-25 (© : DCNS)

Le SMX-25 (© : DCNS)

Le SMX-25 (© : DCNS)

Caractéristiques
Longueur 109 m
Vitesse maximale en surface 38 nd
Déplacement surface 2850 tonnes
Déplacement en plongée 4560 tonnes
Vitesse en plongée 10 nd
Autonomie en patrouille 30 jours

buglerbilly

27-10-10, 03:18 PM

SIS Wins DARPA Contract for Autonomous Anti-Submarine Tracking

(Source: Spatial Integrated Systems, Inc.; issued October 26, 2010)

KINSTON, N.C. --- Spatial Integrated Systems, Inc. (SIS) announced that it has won a major proof-of-concept contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in response to its recent solicitation for the Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program. The award builds on SIS's successful development to date of an autonomous maritime navigation and control system in partnership with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL) and Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division (NSWCCD).

"This is a significant milestone in the evolution of SIS's maritime unmanned surface vessel capabilities," said Rick Simon, director of SIS's Autonomous Maritime Navigation (AMN) program. "The DARPA award underscores that SIS has taken maritime autonomy to a level of sophistication unmatched by its competitors."

Under the initial six-month contract, SIS will demonstrate the technical feasibility of a beyond-state-of-the-art cognitive capability for tracking quiet diesel-electric submarines for long periods of time under sparse remote supervisory control. The results of this demonstration will be used to generate preliminary performance specifications for the autonomy system of the ACTUV.

SIS's AMN system represents the current state of the art in unmanned vessel autonomy. Providing a platform-independent executive function that can be used with any USV, the heart of AMN's cognitive capabilities is an artificial intelligence engine originally developed by NASA JPL for the Mars Exploration Rovers.

"This is a win-win for taxpayers and for the development of advanced unmanned surface vessels," said Dr. Ali Farsaie, President and CEO of SIS. "We've taken the federal government's investment in Mars Rover technology and transitioned it to maritime autonomy. This DARPA project will leverage these capabilities and prior investment even further."

Based in Arlington, VA, DARPA's mission is to maintain the technological superiority of the US military and prevent technological surprise from harming our national security by sponsoring revolutionary, high-payoff research. The ACTUV program will develop a beyond-state-of-the art platform that never sees a person step aboard in its operating cycle as an independently deploying naval vessel. It will operate under sparse remote supervisory control and have a dominant propulsive overmatch against threat submarines to provide the US Navy with a game-changing ASW operational capability.

Spatial Integrated Systems: SIS is a leader in the development and integration of solutions incorporating novel digital technologies. SIS develops, implements, and deploys high-end system and business solutions that incorporate Digital 3D Imaging and Modeling, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and 3D Visualization. In addition to its headquarters in North Carolina, SIS has offices in Gaithersburg, MD; Bremerton, WA; Virginia Beach, VA; and Charleston, WV. SIS serves both the federal and commercial sectors.

-ends-

buglerbilly

30-10-10, 05:45 AM

Greeks, Germans Settle Submarine Dispute

By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS

Published: 29 Oct 2010 09:50

PARIS - The long-standing dispute between the Greek Navy and German submarine maker ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems came to an apparent end Oct. 27 with the announcement that an agreement had been reached to deliver one completed submarine and resume work on two more.

With delivery of a payment to ThyssenKrupp said to be about 200 million euros ($277.5 million), the submarine Papanikolis, completed in 2006 by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) at Kiel, Germany, will be handed over to the Greek Navy, probably around mid-November. Work on two more Type 214 submarines will resume at Hellenic Shipyards in Greece under the Neptune II program to upgrade the Greek submarine fleet.....................

Read more here: http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4995787&c=EUR&s=SEA

buglerbilly

03-11-10, 04:36 PM

General Dynamics Awarded $36 Million for Development of Advanced Submarine Technologies

(Source: General Dynamics Electric Boat; issued November 2, 2010)

GROTON, Conn. --- General Dynamics Electric Boat has been awarded a $35.9 million U.S. Navy contract to develop advanced submarine technologies for current and future undersea platforms. Electric Boat is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics.

Under the terms of the contract, Electric Boat will perform Concept Formulation (CONFORM) studies in support of a wide range of technology areas including manufacturability, maintainability, survivability, hydrodynamics, acoustics and materials. Electric Boat also will conduct research and development work in additional areas including manning, hull integrity, performance, ship control, logistics, weapons handling and safety. Additionally, the contract supports near-term Virginia-class technology insertion, identification of Ohio-class replacement technology options, future submarine concepts and core technologies.

If all options are exercised and funded, the contract has a total potential value of $711.4 million over five years.

General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, employs approximately 90,000 people worldwide. The company is a market leader in business aviation; land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions; shipbuilding and marine systems; and information systems and technologies.

-ends-

buglerbilly

13-11-10, 02:45 AM

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

Final Divorce Between Navantia and DCNS

Posted by Christina Mackenzie at 11/12/2010 11:37 AM CST

In a remarkably terse press release, DCNS and Navantia today announced their final divorce in their marriage of convenience over the Scorpene submarine.

“DCNS and Navantia have put an end to their disagreement concerning their submarine collaboration,” it stated, which one might at first have thought meant top-level meetings between their management had been successful, particularly given the next statement: “As a result, the arbitration procedure between them will be terminated.”

But then, like a well-written play, the full meaning becomes clear in the next phrase:

“Scorpene submarines will from now on be built and marketed by DCNS. Similarly, S80 submarines will be built and marketed by Navantia.”

And, just in case you are tempted to want to know more, the statement ends with: “Neither party will make any further comments.”

So, what does all this actually mean? Well, it puts an end to the 15-year Franco-Spanish collaboration on conventional diesel-electric submarines, which is not good news at a time when tighter defense budgets across Europe means industry really should rationalize, particularly in the naval sector where there are still far too many national players all competing against each other in a narrow market.

The 18-month dispute in Paris courts between the French and Spanish shipyards arose when DCNS accused Navantia of plagiarizing technology from Scorpene to develop the larger S80 submarine, four of which have been bought by the Spanish navy, but which is also being proposed on the export market in competition with the Scorpene ... without success for the moment.

The French were particularly annoyed that the S80 is being built in collaboration with Lockheed Martin which is supplying its combat system.

DCNS and Navantia have co-built 10 Scorpene submarines: two each for Chile and Malaysia and six for India in their respective shipyards at Cherbourg and Cartagena with DCNS holding about 65% of the work share. Intellectual property, however, was equally shared between the two.

So, from now on Scorpene becomes an entirely French product, marketed only by DCNS and S-80 will continue to be marketed by Navantia.

The first S-80, S-81, should be delivered (a year late) in the first quarter of 2013, according to Spain's secretary of state for defense Constantin Mendez. The last of the four, S-84, should be delivered to the Spanish Armada in 2016.

DCNS, meanwhile, will be busy on the four Scorpenes it has sold to Brazil.

buglerbilly

11-12-10, 02:18 AM

General Dynamics Awarded $7 Million for Development of Advanced Submarine Technologies

(Source: General Dynamics; issued Dec. 9, 2010)

GROTON, Conn. --- General Dynamics Electric Boat has been awarded a $7.4 million contract modification by the U.S. Navy to develop advanced submarine technologies for current and future undersea platforms. Electric Boat is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics.

Under this award Electric Boat will perform advanced submarine research and development studies in support of a wide range of technology areas including manufacturing, maintenance, survivability, hydrodynamics, acoustics and materials. Electric Boat also will conduct research and development work in areas such as manning, hull integrity, performance, ship control, logistics, weapons handling and safety.

The contract also supports near-term Virginia-class technology insertion, identification of Ohio-class replacement technology options, future submarine concepts and core technologies.

If all options are exercised and funded, the contract has a potential value of $711.4 million over a total of five years.

This work will help support the more 3,000 design and engineering personnel employed at Electric Boat. Possessing proven technical capabilities, these employees are engaged in all facets of the submarine lifecycle from concept formulation and design through construction, maintenance and modernization.

-ends-

buglerbilly

14-12-10, 12:58 PM

Nice pic of HMS AMBUSH in its late build stage...........small isn't she?!!

buglerbilly

16-12-10, 02:55 PM

Contract for Supply of Navigation and Radar Control Systems to Norwegian Submarines Valued at 65 MNOK

(Source: Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace; issued December 15, 2010)

Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS (Kongsberg) has signed a contract for supply of Navigation and Radar Systems to the Royal Norwegian Navy’s Ula class submarines. This contract, which has been won in an international competition, is made between the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation and Kongsberg, represented by the Naval Systems & Surveillance division.

The contract value is approx. 65 MNOK.

Kongsberg has for more than 35 years supplied Command & Weapons Control Systems to Norwegian, German and Italian submarines and this contract results in an important renewal of our product range for submarines. The contract is the result of a long term effort to strengthen our position as supplier of complete integrated Navigation, Sonar and Command & Weapons Control Systems for submarines.

There exists on the world market a large number of submarines in need of a mid-life, or life extension, update. In this context this is yet another important reference contract for Kongsberg”, says Executive Vice President Nils-Oddvar Hagen in Kongsberg Defence Systems.

Kongsberg is an international, knowledge-based group that supplies high-technology systems and solutions to customers engaged in the oil and gas industry, the merchant marine, and the defence and aerospace industries. In 2009, Kongsberg had a Turnover of NOK 13.8 billion, and the Group had 5 423 employees in more than 25 countries.

-ends-

buglerbilly

16-12-10, 03:18 PM

HMS Ambush trapped on dry land by technical glitch

HMS Ambush, the second of the Royal Navy's next generation of submarines, was official "launched" without actuallty entering the water because of a technical hitch.

HMS Ambush at BAE Systems, Barrow in Furness, Cumbria Photo: PA

By Laura Roberts 1:08PM GMT 16 Dec 2010

The embarrassing problem is the latest to hit the Astute class vessels, after HMS Astute, the first to be delivered ran aground off the Scottish coast.

HMS Ambush, the next in the series, has now been trapped on land because of a technical fault with the machinery needed to lift it.

About 2,000 people will attend the waterless ceremony in Barrow-in-Furness, performed by the wife of the Royal Navy's Commander in Chief.

A BAE Systems spokesman said: "Due to a last minute technical issue involving some of the equipment required to move the submarine inside the Devonshire Dock Hall, Ambush will now not leave the DDH following the launch ceremony.

"The ceremony will continue as planned, and Ambush is scheduled to move from the DDH and into Devonshire Dock in the coming days."

The submarine, which will begin sea trials in about one year's time, is armed with Spearfish torpedoes and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles.

It produces its own air and water, so can circumnavigate the globe without needing to surface.

The navy will not take delivery of HMS Ambush until the sea trials are complete.

However, technical problems have plagued HMS Astute, the navy's other new nuclear submarine.

In October this year HMS Astute ran aground on rocks off Scotland causing considerable embarrassment to Navy chiefs.

The world's most advance nuclear submarine cost £1.2billion.

It is understood that the boat, which is first in its class, ran aground by its stern in a manoeuvre that “went slightly wrong” after it had dropped some sailors ashore in tidal waters off the Isle of Skye.

It was later towed free.

At 7,200 tonnes the Astute is the biggest British nuclear attack submarine ever built, although it is half the size of the Trident nuclear submarines at 16,000 tonnes. The boat’s nuclear reactor will never need refueling during its 35 year life.

In the same month it was announced that the seventh and final Astute class submarine would be ordered despite other defence spending cuts.

buglerbilly

17-12-10, 02:28 PM

Faslane Ready to Welcome the “Mighty Bush”

(Source: Royal Navy; issued Dec. 16, 2010)

HMS Ambush, the Royal Navy’s second nuclear-powered attach submarine, was officially named at Barrow-in-Furness on Dec. 16. (BAE photo)

The latest addition to the Royal Navy submarine flotilla was rolled-out today (Thursday, December 16) when Ambush was launched at BAE Systems’ shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness.

The multi-million pound submarine is the latest of the Astute-class vessels which, once in service, will find a home at HM Naval Base Clyde.

The Astute submarines are the largest, most powerful and technologically advanced submarines of their type ever built for the Royal Navy – regarded as one of the world’s most complex engineering challenges.

Ambush marks the 24th nuclear powered submarine which has been designed and constructed at the Barrow shipyards, stretching back to 1960 with the launch of the first, HMS Dreadnought.

BAE Systems Submarine Solutions managing director, said: “The launch of Ambush represents another significant milestone in the programme, following the commissioning into service of HMS Astute in August this year.”

Launching the vessel was Lady Soar, the boat’s sponsor, and wife of Admiral Sir Trevor Soar who is Commander-in-Chief Fleet.

As Ambush left the yard’s massive 270,000 square foot Devonshire Dock Hall, it marked a key moment in preparing the nuclear submarine for service with the Royal Navy.

Thirteen years have passed since the government placed the order for the new Astute-class boats and seven years since Ambush’s keel was laid down and construction began.

Following the naming and launch ceremony, Ambush will now be lowered into the dock to begin a rigorous period of trails and testing.

Meanwhile, construction on the third vessel of the class – HMS Artful – is continuing with the command deck in place and work on the hull almost completed. The fourth boat, HMS Audacious, is also taking shape after the keel was laid last year.

The recent Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) confirmed the government’s commitment to a seven-strong class of nuclear attack submarine and recognised the need for a replacement for the Vanguard class.

A spokesman for HMNB Clyde, said: “HM Naval Base Clyde, the Home of the UK Submarine Service, will see all the Astute class vessels berthed alongside along with the remaining Trafalgar class submarines and the Royal Navy’s Sandown class mine hunters.

“It is always an exciting time when a new vessel is launched and those working at Faslane are looking forward to welcoming Ambush to her new home.” (ends)

Ambush Proudly Named At Ceremony

(Source: BAE Systems; issued December 16, 2010)

BARROW-IN-FURNESS, United Kingdom --- Today is a proud day for the Royal Navy and BAE Systems as the second Astute class submarine, Ambush, was formally named in front of more than 2,000 people.

Ambush Commander Peter Green said "Ambush is fuelled for life and is a significant step forward from the previous class of submarines. This is a hugely proud day for me and the Royal Navy."

BAE Systems staff and guests gathered in the giant Devonshire Dock Hall to see Ambush sponsor, Lady Anne Soar, the wife of Commander-in-Chief Fleet, Admiral Sir Trevor Soar, name the boat and release the customary bottle of champagne onto the submarine’s bow. The submarine was then blessed by shipyard Chaplain, the Reverend Sheila Hughes.

John Hudson, Managing Director of Submarine Solutions said: “Today marks a highly significant milestone for BAE Systems, all of our supply chain and community partners and especially our Ministry of Defence and Royal Navy colleagues. It has taken a huge amount of skill and effort from a large number of people, not only to design and build such a complex vessel but also to get her to the advanced state of completion that we see today. All of the hundreds of people from across the submarine enterprise who have contributed can be justifiably proud as Ambush begins the next stage of her commissioning.”

The ceremony marks the culmination of thousands of man-hours of highly skilled design, fabrication, construction, test and commissioning. It will be followed in the coming days by the submarine’s rollout onto the ship lift and lowering into Devonshire Dock, to begin the next phase of commissioning before her eventual exit from Barrow.

BAE Systems is the lead contractor of the seven-boat Astute programme and the launch of Ambush follows the formal commissioning into the Royal Navy of HMS Astute earlier this year.

The Astute class are the largest and most powerful attack submarines ever ordered by the Royal Navy, each one weighing 7,400 tonnes and packed with unrivalled capabilities. The sonar suite has the processing power of 2,000 laptops and the boats are armed with Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and Spearfish torpedoes. The boats can manufacture their own oxygen from sea water and are fuelled for life by a nuclear reactor so powerful it can power a city the size of Southampton.

More than 200 invited guests enjoyed a reception at the Abbey House Hotel before the launch followed by a formal luncheon after the ceremony. These included guests from the Royal Navy, BAE Systems, key suppliers, local dignitaries and employees. John Hudson proposed the toast to the boat and her sponsor, and Chief of Material Fleet, Vice Admiral Andrew Mathews, proposed the toast to the builder. Lady Soar and Ambush Commanding Officer Commander Peter Green also addressed the guests.

Another 400 invited guests enjoyed lunch in the main shipyard after the ceremony. These included employees, retired submariners, and representatives from Rolls Royce, the Royal Navy and the Ministry of Defence Submarine Production team.

In November 2010 HM Government confirmed its intention to proceed with seven Astute Class submarines all of which will be built in Barrow-in-Furness.

AMBUSH FACTS:

-- Ambush’s 97m length is more than the length of 10 London buses.
-- When fully stored she will displace 7,400 tonnes of sea water, equivalent to 65 blue whales.
-- Advanced nuclear technology means Ambush will never need to be refuelled. The submarine is fuelled by a nuclear reactor powerful enough to power a city the size of Southampton.
-- Ambush is able to circumnavigate the world without surfacing and her dived endurance is only limited by the amount of food that can be carried and the endurance of the crew.
-- Ambush can manufacture its own oxygen and fresh water from the ocean.
-- The Astute class is the first Royal Navy submarine not to be fitted with optical periscopes – instead the vessel employs high specification video technology. The images are delivered into the submarine via fibre-optic cables.
-- Armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, Ambush can strike at targets up to 1,000 km from the coast with pinpoint accuracy – equivalent to driving from London to Paris and back twice.
-- There is around 110 km of cabling and pipe work on board Ambush – equivalent to driving from Bristol to Oxford.
-- Ambush’s Sonar 2076 sonar suite has the processing power of 2000 laptop computers. It has the world’s largest number of hydrophones, providing the Royal Navy with the “biggest ears” of any sonar system in service today.
-- The command deck module, on which the sonar suite sits along with the other combat systems and platform control systems, was shipped into the submarine hull in four days, compared with 17 on first of class Astute. This involves inching the 220-tonne heavily outfitted module into the open submarine unit with, in places, just centimetres of clearance.
-- The Command Deck Module also contains areas for eating and sleeping. The Astute class submarine is the first to have a bunk for each crew member. Each bunk is approximately 2 metres long by 1 metre wide by 1 metre high. The only crew member who has his own room, or cabin, is the Commanding Officer.

BAE Systems is a global defence, security and aerospace company with approximately 107,000 employees worldwide. The Company delivers a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, security, information technology solutions and customer support services. In 2009 BAE Systems reported sales of £22.4 billion (US$ 36.2 billion).

-ends-

buglerbilly

22-12-10, 05:25 AM

Submarines : French Barracuda contract awarded

The Barracuda SSN
crédits : DCN

22/12/2006

French defence procurement agency DGA today announced that it has awarded the Barracuda SSN contract to the DCN group and partner Areva-TA. The contract calls for the delivery of six new-generation nuclear-powered attack submarines, or SSNs, and through-life support services during their first years of operational service. The programme has been split into an initial contract, followed by six options. The contracts cover design, development, production and through-life support. The initial contract is worth over €1 billion out of a projected total of €8 billion over 20 years. The first Barracuda SSN is scheduled for delivery in 2016. The group's contribution will be led by DCN Cherbourg supported by Lorient, Indret, Ruelle, Toulon and Saint-Tropez along with industrial partners in several regions of France.

Within the DCN/Areva TA programme consortium, DCN will act as the submarine prime contractor, including responsibilities as overall architect, platform and propulsion system prime contractor, systems integrator, nuclear safety studies coordinator and through-life support prime contractor while Areva TA will act as prime contractor for the nuclear powerplant. The Barracuda programme will meet the French Navy's operational mission needs by providing replacements for six current-generation Rubis-class SSNs. In addition to anti-surface and anti-submarine capabilities, the Barracuda will accommodate intelligence gathering and the deployment of special forces and carry MDCN cruise missiles providing a land strike capability. The payload of 20 tube-launched weapons will comprise a mix of future heavyweight torpedoes, cruise missiles and SM39 anti-ship missiles. Expressing his satisfaction with the contract, DCN Chairman & CEO Jean-Marie Poimboeuf said: " In the same way as the FREMM programme has given our surface combatant business new visibility, this contract gives our submarine construction business production visibility extending 20 years into the future." For Areva TA Chairman & CEO Dominique Mockly, " This contract gives us significant production visibility in shipboard powerplants and while enabling us to maintain our skills base in nuclear propulsion for warships ".

buglerbilly

07-01-11, 01:15 AM

Steel Cylinder 'Cloaks' Sound Waves.

Analysis by Tracy Staedter

Thu Jan 6, 2011 03:24 PM ET

In 2009, Discovery News Tech writer, Eric Bland, wrote about a DVD-sized lens designed to bend sound waves, such as those used for sonar or ultrasound. The technology could be used to cloak underwater objects like submarines, making them invisible to sonar.

But in 2009, the technology was still in the conceptual stages. Now the researchers, lead by Nicholas Fang of the University Illinois, have produced an experiment that shows that their prototype works. They published their results in the journal Physical Review Letters. It's also available HERE for download.

The disk is made from a metamaterial, a specially engineered material that has enhanced properties. In this case, the material is engineered to have 16 concentric rings that guide the sound waves and bend them around outer layers of the cloak. This means that if something is inside the cloak, the sound waves will bend around it, too.

To test this, Fang and his team submerged the cloaking device in a tank of water and put a steel object inside it. On one side of the tank, they placed an ultrasound source and on the other side the placed a sensor array. When the steel object was inside the cloaking device, it didn't show up on the ultrasound.

Their next experiments will look at various military applications for the technology as well as soundproofing and even health care.

Caption: Each ring on the cloaking device has a different index of refraction, meaning that sound waves vary their speed from the outer rings to the inner ones. | Photo: L. Brian Stauffer

buglerbilly

11-01-11, 02:00 PM

Pentagon Contract Announcement

(Source: U.S Department of Defense; issued January 10, 2011)

General Dynamics Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Conn., is being awarded a $20,000,000 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-11-C-2109) for engineering and technical design services to support research and development (R&D) of advanced submarine technologies for current and future submarine platforms.

Advanced submarine R&D includes studies to support the manufacturability, maintainability, producibility, reliability, manning, survivability, hull integrity, performance, structural, weight/margin, stability, arrangements, machinery systems, acoustics, hydrodynamics, ship control, logistics, human factors, materials, weapons handling and stowage, submarine safety, and affordability.

Development and design of advanced submarine R&D technologies include integration/incorporation of technologies for tests/deployment of onboard advanced development models and engineering test platforms on designated R&D test platform(s) and current and future submarine platforms; fabrication of advanced engineering development models and prototypes required to demonstrate proof-of-concepts; and engineering design, technical assessment, systems integration, and configuration management and control services to support large scale vehicle test platforms.

The program also supports near term insertion of Virginia-class technology; identification of Ohio-class replacement technology options; future submarine concepts; and core technologies.

Work will be performed in Groton, Conn., and is expected to be completed by October 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year.

The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

-ends-

buglerbilly

02-02-11, 11:53 PM

France Adds New Torpedo To Submarine Arsenal

Feb 2, 2011

By Christina Mackenzie
St. Tropez, France

Torpedoes are potent weapons, if rarely used. Excluding the sinking of a South Korean ship last March by North Korea, the last torpedo used in combat was by the Royal Navy in the Falklands War, “and they used a torpedo from World War II,” says Marc Le Roy, director of BU ASM (Business Unit Armes Sous Marines), the underwater weapons business of French naval systems developer DCNS.

Nevertheless, France is investing in the development of a new generation of heavyweight torpedo, the F21, which will be the weapon of choice for its nuclear submarines over the next 30-40 years. “France is the latest country to develop a new heavyweight torpedo,” says Le Roy. Germany and the U.S., he adds, “have made incremental improvements to existing torpedoes, whereas with the F21 we are developing a completely up-to-date product.”

The F21 is scheduled to be operational in 2016. BU ASM plans to produce 100 of the torpedoes for the French navy’s Rubis-, Barracuda- and Le Terrible-class submarines. “Because these torpedoes are designed as part of the weapon system of nuclear submarines, they need to be extremely safe,” says Le Roy. There must be zero risk of an accidental launch or explosion. DCNS has developed an important component for safe deployment: an energy pack based on an aluminium/silver oxide electric battery that needs seawater for activation—an element unlikely to be found in the submarine.

To meet submarine safety requirements, the F21 will be launched by a technique in which it is pushed out of the boat by a piston, after which a valve in the torpedo opens and lets seawater into the battery to activate it. The battery “provides high energy density and is the best-performing [type] on the market.”

The battery is sufficiently compact that the overall length of the F21—6 meters (19.6-ft.) long with a 21-in. dia.—is compatible with legacy launchers. One problem with competitive torpedoes that are equipped with older-generation batteries is that to achieve the energy for their missions and countermeasures, they “need long batteries, which add so much to their length that they no longer fit into launchers,” Le Roy says. The torpedo must also have enough energy left once it has reached its target to attack and sink it. “We are talking about high-value targets such as aircraft carriers and frigates,” he adds.

This explains the importance of the primary battery as the energy source. The U.K., Russia, U.S. and Sweden have chosen thermal systems as their energy source. France specified this electric system “because it is safe and silent,” says Loic Beaurepaire, marketing and business development manager. “In underwater missions, silence is of the utmost importance to avoid detection by the enemy,” he remarks. “This system enables a totally silent attack.”

The F21 is digital and operates in depths of 15-500 meters, which means it can be used in littoral and blue-water operations. Beaurepaire says that in shallow waters there are “parasite” sounds that confuse torpedoes, which home in on targets acoustically. “We treat the sound signals digitally with the same up-to-date processing as in modern ship sonars, which enables us to largely overcome this difficulty.”

The new torpedo weighs 1.2 tons, has a range of 50 km. (31 mi.), speed of 50 kt., and 1-hr. endurance. It can attack multiple targets and has extended fiber-optic wire guidance. DCNS says it is resistant to most countermeasures.

The warhead contains PBX B2211, a high-impulse, high-bubble-energy, insensitive explosive that conforms to NATO’s Stanag 4439 and France’s Murat (Munitions a Risques Attenues) standards. The torpedo uses an all-electric “fuse-and-slapper” detonation technology. Primarily used in missiles, the plasma-based slapper system is more stable and safer than the conventional electro-mechanical detonation systems in most torpedoes.

The torpedo configuration can be changed from a weapon to a training device, Beaurepaire says. “We just put an exercise section on it instead of an explosive one. We can also change the primary battery, providing it with a secondary battery based on lithium-ion technology, which is reusable a great number of times.”

Photo: JEAN-MICHEL ROCHE

Exsandgroper

06-02-11, 10:39 PM

Nuclear subs buy floated
Brendan Nicholson From: The Australian February 07, 2011 12:00AM

AUSTRALIA could buy 10 of the latest nuclear attack submarines from the US for much less than it would cost to build 12 conventional replacements for the Collins-class boats, says the Kokoda Foundation think tank.
Foundation founder Ross Babbage said the submarines could operate with US boats sharing an Australian naval base and they could be maintained by US nuclear experts.

Dr Babbage, a member of the government's advisory panel for the 2009 Defence white paper, told The Australian 10 of the US Navy's new Virginia-class attack submarines could be bought and equipped for a total of $28 billion.

While the white paper called for 12 new conventional subs, it gave no estimate of their likely cost. But Andrew Davies, of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, has calculated that they would cost about $36bn and that figure has not been challenged by the government.

In the past, apart from political and social objections to nuclear power, key submarine experts have dismissed the idea of Australia opting for nuclear subs because of an expected high cost and because the nation has no nuclear industry to repair and maintain them.

Dr Babbage said a dramatic step, such as taking this nuclear option, was necessary as evidence emerged of China's rapidly increasing military power.

"Australia needs to consider purchasing 10-12 of the United States' latest nuclear powered attack submarines in order to balance, offset and deter the dramatic expansion of China's military capabilities," he said.

"China's massive military build-up is clearly designed to force the US and its allies out of the western Pacific.

"Key Australian security interests are being challenged."

A combined force of Australian and US nuclear submarines sharing a base in Australia would send a very strong message to China's military leaders, he said.

At the AUSMIN talks between Australian and US defence and foreign affairs ministers in Melbourne last year, the two governments agreed to a stronger American military presence in Australia, with US forces to share bases and store equipment here.

Buying boats from a "hot" production line would greatly reduce the likelihood of delays, cost blowouts and problems with technology, Dr Babbage said.

Cheers

buglerbilly

07-02-11, 02:24 AM

Yeah I saw Babbles comments in one of the other newspapers.............he's a moron IF he truly thinks anyone:

A) is going to take a blind bit of notice of him

B) that he has clue of the TRUE costs to buy, man and run a Nuke fleet

C) there is any possibility of this happening Politically.

Apart from that its an idea without merit for Australia..............ferkin Foundations are like a rash-of-insanity on the skin of reasoned discussion!

Unicorn

08-02-11, 12:02 PM

As Tweedledee has spoken, so its about time for Tweedledumb-er.

From the Australian

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/panicky-response-would-harm-our-interests/story-e6frg6zo-1226001745570

Panicky response would harm our interests

NATIONAL security policy is too important for federal ministers to stay mute when thoroughly bad ideas are put forward by influential government military advisers.

That is why Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd and Defence Minister Stephen Smith should immediately reject proposals on how to counter China's military expansion from Ross Babbage, as reported by Greg Sheridan in The Weekend Australian.

Babbage says Australia should acquire 12 nuclear attack submarines, host more US military bases, arm "arsenal ships" with cruise missiles and expand cyber warfare capabilities. Sheridan says Babbage's paper is "one of the most important, deeply considered and logically compelling strategic documents ever seen in Australia".

We believe it is bad policy and bad strategy. It turns entirely reasonable concerns about China's military expansion into responses that verge on hysteria. The proposals are ill-defined and not costed. They would almost certainly prove counter-productive, if not downright dangerous, in terms of Australian policy towards China.

Rudd and Smith should remind Australians that the 2009 defence white paper sets out a (roughly) costed and coherent defence policy that is heavily focused on the comprehensive defence of Australia and its key strategic interests out to 2030. It involves a major military expansion program that includes 12 large conventional submarines, three air warfare destroyers, long-range cruise missiles, new frigates, up to 100 F-35 joint strike fighters, as well as other advanced armaments.

Babbage wants to greatly strengthen the white paper finding that Australia should have the independent military means "to impose substantial costs on a major power adversary" operating in our approaches.

The question now is whether adoption of the Babbage plan to rip an arm off China would deter or provoke Beijing, or even tempt it towards pre-emptive strikes against our military bases and cities. It would certainly be extremely risky.

Just take a close look at what Babbage actually wants Australia to do. Inter alia, he proposes that we should be able to "do serious damage to the Chinese leadership's primary interests" and that we develop "the capability to stir serious internal disruptions and even revolts in the event that the Chinese leadership threatened Australia's vital interests". Now, there's a good way of getting us into war with a nuclear-armed China.

Beijing, deeply suspicious, would seem certain to view these proposals as an attempt to contain China. Rudd and Smith should insist that Australia will neither appease nor provoke China, but that it will build up its military capacity to enable it to defend itself and also to support our US ally to respond to any serious military threats that might emerge in the future in the Asia-Pacific region.

Curiously, given the extreme nature of his proposals, Sheridan reports that Babbage "does not believe that conflict between the US and China is either imminent or even likely". Yet his proposals are panicky and extremist, and leave many questions unanswered.

What would 12 nuclear-powered attack submarines cost Australia? What would be the cost of the infrastructure necessary to support them? Would they be in addition to or replace the 12 planned conventional submarines? How many more US bases would he consider necessary? Where would they be located? Why propose new "arsenal ships" to carry cruise missiles when the white paper clearly says they will be fitted to the air warfare destroyers, future frigates and submarines?

There is, as Babbage says, a good case for boosting Australian efforts to counter cyber-warfare, of which China is a leading global exponent. But again the white paper specifically commits Australia to do so, saying that the government will invest in a significant enhancement of our cyber warfare capability.

Babbage has rightly identified China's military expansion and generally more aggressive behaviour lately as transforming events in the western Pacific, but he seems to assume it is only about countering US naval assets in the region. That may be true, but it is not whole story. China also has an interest in protecting its sea line of communications (more than 80 per cent of its crude oil imports pass through the Strait of Malacca); as a rising power it is asserting itself, as rising powers have always done. It is building a modern naval force capable of dominating what it calls "the first island chain" stretching from Japan to Taiwan and the South China Sea.

As the Pentagon has noted, China's primary aim is to be capable of fighting and winning short-duration, high intensity conflicts along its periphery against hi-tech adversaries -- for which read the US. But the Pentagon also states that China's ability "to sustain military power at a distance remains limited."

There is no doubt that Beijing is also developing longer-range capabilities that will have implications beyond China's immediate territorial interests. As these are developed there will undoubtedly be greater potential for misunderstanding and miscalculation between China and the US (and its allies, including Australia).

Certainly, as Babbage says, China is pursuing a vigorous military modernisation program. The Chinese navy now has the largest force of principal naval combatants, submarines and amphibious warfare ships in Asia. But China will not be able to project and sustain large military forces in combat operations far from China until well into the 2020s. And China's military is untested in modern combat.

Moreover, the bluster about the rapid emergence of the Chinese military is undermined by national defence industries that produce inferior equipment. China's armed forces are, and will long remain, no match for those of the US. America has vast resources to support military innovation and make unpredictable technological breakthroughs -- as the former Soviet Union discovered to its cost.

Rudd and Smith should insist that Australia's most rational response to China's military expansion is to strengthen its alliance with the US by ensuring that its maritime re-equipment program goes ahead as planned, on time and on budget. Australian conventional submarines and surface ships armed with cruise missiles can add significantly to US capabilities in the Pacific, and that is what they should concentrate on doing.

The key question that remains is: just who is supporting Babbage's proposition? Is it a particular minister? If so, who? The advice given to us is that, contrary to Babbage's claims, no senior official has endorsed his arguments.

Paul Dibb is emeritus professor and Geoffrey Barker is a visiting fellow in strategic studies at the ANU. Dibb is a former deputy secretary for Defence and director of the Defence Intelligence Organisation.

buglerbilly

09-02-11, 03:58 AM

A Sooner Boomer: DoD OKs SSBN-X

By John Reed Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 5:31 pm

Well, it’s happening. About a month before Defense Secretary Robert Gates unveiled his budget plans that emphasizes strategic weapons, the Pentagon gave the Navy the green light to start developing technology for a 21st century fleet of ballistic missile subs.

The service received the go ahead, called Milestone A approval, after the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer Ashton Carter and the Defense Acquisition Board approved the project on Dec. 9.

Now, the Navy can figure out exactly what it wants the new class to do in terms of operational requirements and determine what technology will be needed to meet those requirements. This will pave the way for the purchase of the initial ship of the class by 2019, according to a Navy announcement.

The effort, which was sent back to the drafting room after it looked like its costs could balloon out of control, aims to replace the current fleet of 14 Ohio class boomers with a fleet of 12 boats able to carry 16 ballistic missiles. The Ohio class subs can carry 24 nuclear tipped Trident D5 ballistic missiles and some have been modified to carry Tomahawk cruise missiles, instead of nukes.

If the sea service wants to field a new class of boomer that quickly, it is almost sure to look at using existing technology to field the subs, much the way the Air Force is doing with its new bomber program. This may mean the Navy’s idea to develop the new boomers based on a modified Seawolf class attack sub design could win out over the alternate plan to develop an entirely new missile boat. This will be all the better given the cost-conscious environment we’re living in, especially considering that some estimates place the purchase price for the boats at $40 billion and total lifecycle cost for the new subs at about $100 billion.

Read more: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2011/02/08/a-sooner-boomer-dod-oks-ssbn-x/#ixzz1DQW0zIYc

buglerbilly

09-02-11, 04:16 AM

More on this................

Navy Hunts For New Subs

Feb 8, 2011

By Michael Fabey

Thanks to the recent announcement that the Pentagon is officially on board — for now — with the general strategy to buy replacement submarines for the Ohio-class strategic boats, it is time to hunt for the next fleet of boomers.

This is no small Pentagon program by any measure. For fiscal 2012, the Navy estimates it will spend about $1 billion for research and development alone for the replacement program, according to sub-builder General Dynamics Electric Boat Division. It will likely cost up to $40 billion just to buy the subs, and overall program costs could reach $100 billion or more. Even for the Defense Department, that is real money — especially in these days of growing financial austerity within the Pentagon — and there is certain to be pressure on the Navy to keep a lid on costs for the new boomers.

One of the hints on just how the Navy might do that was dropped in a statement about granting earlier this month of the Pentagon’s Milestone A authority. The service says, “The Ohio replacement will leverage the successful Virginia-class acquisition program.” That particular line, analysts surmise, could well mean the Navy would entertain and perhaps even embrace a multiyear submarine construction contract proposal similar to the deal now being used for the Virginia attack boats. Indeed, the Navy and Pentagon might also be open to a teaming agreement similar to the one employed for the Virginia-class subs, where Electric Boat and Northrop Grumman’s Newport News, Va., shipyards both build and assemble the Virginias.

That might not be such welcome news to Electric Boat, which designed and built the Ohio-class boomers and assumed it would be the favorite to get the replacement work. Still, another teaming agreement would be a pre-emptive strike on any protest should the Northrop Grumman team want the work and the Navy be forced to select one of the contractors.

The Navy also could do more than just leverage the Virginia-class teaming and multiyear agreements for its Ohio-class replacement subs. There are no subs in the world’s oceans that operate more quietly than the Virginias, except for the costlier Sea Wolf-class attack boats. And when it comes to boomers, there are few priorities more important operationally than being quiet. These subs are meant to sit and wait, undetected, until the moment comes to fire their missiles.

Virginia-class attack boats are designed and built for other missions, but the subs can be designed to accommodate strategic Ohio-class replacement needs. And a modified Virginia-class vessel could be easier for the Pentagon and Congress to swallow for more multiyear construction agreements.

buglerbilly

04-03-11, 02:24 PM

Navy-based submarine rescue system goes airborne

A Training and Adventure news article

4 Mar 11

The NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS), which is based at HM Naval Base Clyde in Scotland, was deployed by air for the first time last week to be a part of a major exercise in Norway.

Part of the NATO Submarine Rescue System being loaded onto a C-17 Globemaster
[Picture: LA(Phot) Chris Mumby, Crown Copyright/MOD 2011]

The £47m system was loaded onto two giant Boeing C-17 Globemasters and three Antonov 124 aircraft before taking off for Bergen to participate in Exercise Golden Arrow.

The system can be deployed at a moment's notice anywhere in the world to the scene of a submarine in distress.

Although the rescue system has been put through its paces many times before, this was the first time that it had been deployed by air - an important milestone in proving that it is fit for purpose.

Brian Grant, Base Manager for the NSRS, said:

"This is the final tick in the box so that Rolls-Royce, who operates the system, can prove to their customer - the Ministry of Defence - that they've got a working system that can be deployed anywhere.

"We train constantly and are looking forward to arriving in Bergen for the next stage of the exercise."

The rescue system left its home at the naval base in Faslane in a fleet of 28 lorries and on arrival in Norway was installed in a 'mother ship'.

Twelve Babcock workers were on hand to help with this operation, as well as a team of welders whose job it was to fit the system's framework to the vessel:

"We will be sailing the mother ship to the North Sea before deploying the system," Mr Grant continued. "What it will involve is sending down our remotely-operated vehicle to a target on the seabed and successfully deliver life-pods.

Part of the NATO Submarine Rescue System
[Picture: LA(Phot) Chris Mumby, Crown Copyright/MOD 2011]

"We will also be testing our manned Submarine Rescue Vehicle [SRV], again to prove that we can successfully dock with the target which simulates a submarine's escape hatch. The SRV is piloted by three people and can rescue up to 15 trapped submariners at a time."

After the exercise the mother ship will sail back to the UK where it is due to dock at Leith on 13 March 2011.

Jointly owned by the UK, French and Norwegian navies, the NSRS is made up of three different independent systems.

The first is a remotely-operated vehicle which can be used to locate a submarine in trouble, clear debris from the vessel and deliver life-saving pods full of food, water and oxygen through the escape hatch.

The second system is the SRV itself. Christened 'Nemo' by the pilots who operate her, the SRV is a manned vessel that can dive to depths of up to 610 metres and evacuate up to 15 people at a time.

The third part of the NSRS is the TUP (Transfer Under Pressure) system, a portable decompression and medical support unit that can take up to 68 people.

Not surprisingly, getting the system out to the scene of an incident is a massive logistical challenge.

buglerbilly

10-03-11, 01:12 PM

Pak Navy Seeks Approval to Purchase Chinese Submarines

(Source: ddi Indian government news; issued March 9, 2011)

Pakistan's Defence Ministry has asked the federal cabinet to approve the purchase of conventional Chinese submarines to counter "emerging threats" that the country faces, according to a media report on Wednesday.

The acquisition of the Chinese vessels will pave the way for joint development of conventional submarines, The Express Tribune newspaper quoted unnamed officials as saying.

The Defence Ministry informed members of the cabinet that the Pakistan Navy is facing a "critical force imbalance" in terms of the number of submarines and ships in its fleet.

The "capability gap is widening exponentially with the passage of time", the report said.

In view of "urgent naval requirements", the issue of acquiring Chinese submarines was part of the talking points for President Asif Ali Zardari's visit to China in 2009.

The matter was also discussed during the Chinese premier's visit to Pakistan in 2010, the report said.

The cabinet has been told that Naval Headquarters had pursued the purchase of submarines with Chinese authorities.

A "mutually agreed draft protocol" is to be signed between the Pakistan Navy and the relevant Chinese department as a first step towards the joint development of conventional submarines.

-ends-

buglerbilly

17-03-11, 03:14 AM

Scorpene Delivery to India Delayed 3 Years

By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI

Published: 16 Mar 2011 10:47

NEW DELHI - Delivery of the first French Scorpene submarine being license-built in India has been delayed by three years, until the latter part of 2015, Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony told the Indian Parliament in a written statement March 14.

According to the $3.9 billion contract signed in 2005 between India and France, construction of the first three submarines would begin in December 2006, December 2007 and August 2008. As per the contract signed with Mazagon Docks Ltd. (MDL), the first submarine is scheduled to be delivered in December 2012, and one each year until December 2017, Antony said.

Antony, however, told Parliament that the first Scorpene delivery will be delivered in 2015.

"As per the contract, the first submarine was scheduled to be delivered in December 2012 and thereafter, one each every year till December 2017. There have been delays due to initial teething problems, absorption of complex technology, augmentation of MDL infrastructure and procurement" of material. The first submarine is now scheduled to be delivered in the second half of 2015, Antony said.

India is already facing a shortfall in submarines. Currently, the Navy has 14 submarines and, by 2012, there will be nine, a senior Navy official said.

The news of the delay in the Scorpene delivery comes at a time when the Chinese Navy is building several nuclear submarines. China has about 30 modern submarines and few dozen older ones. The Scorpenes are being built under Indian Navy's Project 75, which was approved in 1997.

The Scorpene is a conventional submarine with diesel propulsion. It is 219 feet long and has a speed of more than 20 knots with a displacement of 1,700 tons. With 31 men onboard, it can remain at sea for about 50 days and can dive to a depth of more than 1,000 feet.

buglerbilly

21-03-11, 12:58 PM

Russian Navy to receive 10 Graney class attack subs by 2020

00:50 19/03/2011Related News

- Russia set to start construction of 3rd Graney class nuclear sub

- Russia's 2nd Graney class nuclear sub to enter service in 2015

- Russian Navy to receive new nuclear attack submarine by yearend

The Russian Navy is planning to commission up to 10 Graney class nuclear-powered attack submarines by 2020, a high-ranking Navy official said.

"We are expecting to receive about 10 new Yasen [Graney] class attack submarines in the next ten years," the source told RIA Novosti on Friday.

The first Graney class sub, the Severodvinsk, will enter service with the Navy by the end of 2011. The second vessel, the Kazan, is being built at the Sevmash shipyard in the northern Russian city of Severodvinsk.

The construction of the third Graney class submarine will begin in 2011.

Graney class nuclear submarines are designed to launch a variety of long-range cruise missiles (up to 3,100 miles or 5,000 km), with conventional or nuclear warheads, and effectively engage submarines, surface warships and land-based targets.

The submarine's armament includes 24 cruise missiles and eight torpedo launchers, as well as mines and anti-ship missiles.

MOSCOW, March 19 (RIA Novosti)

buglerbilly

21-03-11, 01:02 PM

Russian 5G subs to be equipped with ballistic, cruise missiles - source

Russian nuclear submarines

© RIA Novosti. Vitaliy Ankov08:52 19/03/2011

- Russian military to buy 36 ICBMs, 2 missile subs in 2011
- Russia set to continue tests of Bulava missile in June
- Russia to lease nuclear submarine to India before October
- Russia to prioritize modern weaponry in new arms acquisition program

Russia's proposed fifth-generation nuclear submarines will be armed with both ballistic and cruise missiles, a senior Navy source told RIA Novosti on Saturday.

He did not specify the names of the missiles.

Russia is planning to develop its newest fifth-generation submarine by 2020 under a 2011-2020 arms procurement program, First Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin said last month.

Russia also plans to build eight fourth-generation strategic nuclear submarines by 2020 and equip them with Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missiles, which are expected to be put into service this year.

Defense Ministry submitted the 19 trillion ruble ($651 billion) arms procurement spending plan for 2011-2020 to the government in December. Some 80% of the funds will be spent on buying weapons and 10% will be spent on scientific research.

MOSCOW, March 19 (RIA Novosti)

buglerbilly

22-03-11, 12:39 AM

Barracuda Programme: DCNS Completes First Hull Section of Duguay-Trouin Nuclear Attack Submarine

(Source: DCNS; issued March 18, 2011)

CHERBOURG, France --- The first hull section of the Duguay-Trouin, the second in class of the Barracuda type nuclear-powered attack submarine, has left the prefabrication hall at DCNS’s Cherbourg centre. This first production milestone was passed on schedule and is highly symbolic, since with the first hull section the submarine begins to take on its physical shape. The Barracuda programme, led by the French defence procurement agency (DGA), calls for delivery of six submarines between 2017 and 2028.

The hull section is made of steel alloy. It measures approximately 9 metres in diameter by 4 metres in length and weighs 40 tonnes. Section no. 7 will form part of the aft half of the hull, immediately behind the nuclear reactor compartment and will eventually accommodate the suspended block containing the electrical distribution plant.

This first milestone was passed on time by the DCNS teams, who have taken significant steps to optimise construction of this series of six submarines, through the use of advanced hull forming and welding techniques. Fabrication of the remaining hull elements for the Duguay-Trouin — 20 other hull sections and 4 interface pieces — will follow in the next few months.

Construction of the Suffren, the first in class of the Barracuda type submarines, is also on schedule at the Cherbourg centre. Joining of the hull sections at the assembly facility is moving forward at a brisk pace, with the first equipment integration phases set to begin in the next few months.

The Barracuda next-generation nuclear-powered attack submarines, or SSNs (French designation SNA-NG), will be a key component of the French Navy’s force projection assets. In addition to anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare, the Barracuda’s mission capabilities will include intelligence gathering, special operations (by deploying commandos) and land strikes, with the MDCN naval cruise missile. Barracuda SSNs will carry a range of armaments, including the future heavyweight torpedo, the SM39 antiship missile and the MDCN (up to 20 armaments simultaneously).

-ends-

buglerbilly

24-03-11, 05:22 AM

Thailand agrees to German submarine procurement

By Jon Grevatt

23 March 2011

USD$220 Million sounds like a lot for old subs but undoubtedly includes a substantial Training and Spares package

The Thai government has agreed to buy two second-hand Type 206A diesel electric submarines from the German Navy, official sources have confirmed to Jane's .

Payment for the purchase - which is understood to be about USD220 million - has not yet been secured, although funds are expected to be sourced from the defence budget for Fiscal Year 2012 (FY12), which commences in October.

The German Navy decommissioned four Type 206A submarines in mid-2010. The boats are 35 years old and were originally due for decommissioning between 2011 and 2015. As part of a defence review carried out by Berlin, the German Navy brought the boats' retirement date forward to save operational costs.

A senior officer from the Royal Thai Navy (RTN) told Jane's on 21 March that officials from the German Navy visited the country in late 2010 and offered the submarines to Thailand. He added that German submarines had been selected ahead of those offered by South Korea and China, who had made available Type 209s and Type 039s respectively. The RTN also held discussions with Swedish shipbuilder Kockums about the availability of Gotland-class submarines.

187 of 655 words
Copyright © IHS (Global) Limited, 2011

buglerbilly

08-04-11, 03:29 AM

Navy Cutting Time To Produce Virginia Subs

Apr 7, 2011

By Michael Fabey

The U.S. Navy is approaching its 60-month construction goal for its Virginia-class submarines, despite a recent redesign of the bow to accommodate larger and more versatile weapon tubes, according to Capt. Michael Jabaley, Virginia-class program manager.

The sub-building contractor team of General Dynamics’ Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding is now producing each sub within about 65 months and should get the next sub pair closer to the 60-month mark, Jabaley told Aviation Week. The sub construction time reduction is ahead of schedule, he says.

Cutting the time to build a Virginia-class submarine is an important part of keeping the sub’s cost in line with federal requirements. The Navy is charged with keeping the price tag for each sub to about $2 billion in fiscal 2005 dollars, which means a target price of about $2.6 billion for the fiscal 2012 Virginia vessel, according to Jabaley. “The cost requirement is baked into the contract,” he says.

One of the reasons for the construction reduction, Jabaley says, has been the time saved by the coating facility brought online by Electric Boat at its Quonset, R.I., facility, which permits the yard to cover the hull with its special coating piece by piece instead of waiting for the whole hull to be done first.

“That is a key enabler for the [construction] span reduction we’ve seen,” Jabaley says. There is a chance that the submarines could be built in less than 60 months, he says.

What makes the schedule trimming even more noteworthy is that it was accomplished even as the Navy implemented a bow redesign, replacing the 12 vertical-launch system tubes with two large payload tubes, similar to those on the SSGN cruise missile subs.

The Virginia-class Block III 87-in.-dia. bow tubes open the door to a vast array of additional potential payloads, Jabaley says. The Navy could adapt several weapons for submarine use by integrating them with SSGN and Block III Virginia large-diameter payload tubes.

There are some differences between the SSGN payload tubes and those on a Virginia sub. For example, the SSGN tubes are a little longer and are internal to the sub, while the Virginia Payload Tubes (VPTs) will be outside the pressure hull, requiring the middle slot to remain open to connect Tomahawk missiles to the combat system, Jabaley says. However, the basic commonality of the SSGN tubes and VPTs will allow leveraging of payload development for both platforms.

Navy and industry submarine officials recently gathered at a summit, Jabaley says, to discuss what additional payloads could be placed in the tubes.

One payload for the larger tubes that could make a remarkable weapon would be the AIM-9X Sidewinder missile, Jabaley says. “To be able to put an AIM-9X in a tube with the ability to launch it and engage a helicopter — that’s really a game-changer,” he says.

Photo: US Navy

buglerbilly

13-04-11, 05:00 PM

Navy Mulls ‘Stretch’ Sub for Firepower

April 13, 2011

The Day, New London, Conn.

Electric Boat says it can add more missile tubes to Virginia-class submarines without compromising speed or stealth.

EB has been working on a concept for a "stretch Virginia" to boost firepower. The task was to figure out whether the subs could be lengthened by about 90 feet to accommodate triple the number of Tomahawk missiles they now carry, and to launch the weapons of the future, including unmanned undersea vehicles.

Preliminary estimates say the modification could cost up to $500 million per ship, adding roughly 20 percent to the cost of an attack submarine.

Two years ago, the Navy asked EB to work on the project, which is not an official Navy program at this point.

After completing the initial engineering work, the company found that it can be done, according to John Holmander, the vice president who manages the Virginia-class program. Company officials are discussing the concept at the Navy League's three-day Sea-Air-Space Exposition that began Monday in Maryland.

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, plans to advocate for research and design money for the Navy in the fiscal 2012 budget, some of which could be used to further develop the concept. But fully funding a new program would be an uphill battle, given the federal government's fiscal woes.

The Navy's Submarine Force will lose about 60 percent of its undersea firepower in the late 2020s with the retirement of its four guided-missile subs, capable of carrying up to 154 Tomahawk missiles. This is happening at the same time that the number of attack submarines in the fleet is dropping because of the retiring of the aging members of the Los Angeles-class subs.

The first "stretch" Virginia could be the sub that EB starts building in 2019, which would be commissioned close to the time that the first guided-missile sub retires.

On the most recent Virginia-class subs, two large-diameter missile tubes located forward of the sail can launch six Tomahawk cruise missiles each. The subs also carry torpedoes.

Extending the submarine to 471 feet would make room for a module near the middle with four additional tubes capable of launching seven missiles each. That would be a 230 percent jump in the number of Tomahawks that can be launched quickly, from 12 to 40.

These stretched subs would still fit in the docks at EB, which at one time held Ohio-class submarines 560 feet long.

The four new missile tubes would be more than 7 feet in diameter.

"This opens the door to many, many other game-changing applications," Rear Adm. Richard P. Breckenridge, deputy director of the Submarine Warfare Division, said in an interview.

The stretch Virginia ranks third in the Submarine Force's priorities, Breckenridge said. Topping the list is the program to replace the current fleet of Ohio-class, or Trident, submarines, followed by finding ways to mitigate the dip in the number of attack submarines as the aging subs of the Los Angeles class retire.

If the Navy had a more robust budget, it would pay for the capability "without hesitation," he said. The Navy is looking to the Defense Department to see if funds could be available to proceed with the stretch Virginia concept, Breckenridge said.

Peter W. Singer, director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative and a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, said the stretch Virginia seeks to answer a key problem that the Navy faces, the crunch in the number of submarines overall and the limits in the number of missiles they can deploy. Both problems look to be worsening in the future, he added.

"The Navy is going to face a series of tough decisions budgetwise. But all things being equal, it's a program we have to give serious consideration towards," Singer said Tuesday.

The USS Florida was one of the three U.S. submarines that launched Tomahawk missiles into Libya last month to support a no-fly zone. One of the fleet's four guided-missile submarines, the Florida launched a majority of its Tomahawk missiles, Breckenridge said. Typically, guided-missile submarines deploy with 105 missiles, he added.

"The Navy would've needed eight other attack subs in theater to do what that one ship, Florida, did," he said.

While the economy and the budget "will not tolerate" building a new class of guided-missile submarines, Breckenridge said the stretch Virginia solution offers a more affordable way for the Navy to get a "strategically important capability." It gives the Navy flexibility to distribute more missiles on submarines in more locations, rather than concentrating them on the guided-missile submarines, he added.

Courtney said the fact that Congress still plans to pay for two Virginia-class submarines this year instead of one, despite immense pressure for spending cuts, bodes well for the future of the stretch Virginia concept.

"If you're going to make that investment, you obviously want to concentrate the return to the greatest extent possible," he said Tuesday. "And stretching the missile capacity, I think, makes sense."

© Copyright 2011 The Day, New London, Conn.. All rights reserved

buglerbilly

14-04-11, 02:22 PM

Raytheon DeepSiren Closes Submarine Communications Gap at U.S. Navy Arctic Exercise

(Source: Raytheon Company; issued April 13, 2011)

WASHINGTON --- During a U.S. Navy exercise, Raytheon Company's DeepSiren underwater acoustic communication system bridged a capability gap for submarines operating beneath the Arctic ice by providing on-demand tactical mission and emergency response information.

The system was successfully operated during the Navy's ICEX 2011 exercise conducted by the Arctic Submarine Laboratory far north of the Arctic Circle.

"Raytheon DeepSiren enables operational commanders anywhere in the world to quickly send tactical messages to a submarine operating at speed and depth – even under Arctic ice," said Steve Moynahan, senior engineer, Raytheon Network Centric Systems (NCS), who deployed with DeepSiren to support the exercise. "This addresses one of the most significant shortfalls in submarine communications to provide mission-critical information while the vessel is submerged."

At one point in the exercise, the use of DeepSiren took a real-world turn when the USS New Hampshire, submerged beneath a thick ice cover, needed to quickly find a suitable location to surface and evacuate a sailor stricken with appendicitis. U.S. Navy Capt. Rhett Jaehn, deputy director of operations, Commander, Submarine Force, said, "DeepSiren played a key role in facilitating the evacuation of the sick sailor and was heavily used during the exercise."

Raytheon DeepSiren operates much like a text messaging system, providing submarines with mission essential and tactical information in a short message format.

"The DeepSiren solution addresses a very significant gap in the broad spectrum of underwater communications capabilities," said Brian McKeon, vice president, Raytheon NCS' Integrated Communications Systems.

McKeon added: "The system has been well designed, tested and demonstrated to work reliably over a vast range of oceanographic conditions. DeepSiren employs mature technology rated at TRL (technology readiness level) eight, and it can easily transition into production to support delivery of qualified hardware within months of a purchase order."

At the start of ICEX, the Raytheon system facilitated the rendezvous of participating submarines with a camp established on the ice surface 150 nautical miles north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. DeepSiren transmissions from Ice Camp were received by two submarines at distances comparable to those demonstrated in previous at-sea trials and significantly greater than those achieved by other systems.

"Its acoustic transmissions are very much lower in power than typical sonar signals, making it both environmentally friendly and enabling it to operate without causing harmful interference to other acoustic sensor systems," explained Trevor Barron, program technical director, Raytheon NCS. "We were able to very quickly adapt the DeepSiren software-defined acoustic modem to accommodate the unique requirements of the Arctic Submarine Laboratory."

Raytheon plans to conduct DeepSiren at-sea trials with German and French navies later this year, and the Canadian navy plans to conduct an at-sea evaluation of the system.

Additionally, a compatible DeepSiren variant to provide underwater communications for Navy special operations forces is in development and has undergone successful initial tests. DeepSiren underwent success sea trials with the British navy in the Mediterranean Sea during the TAURUS '09 deployment.

Raytheon Company, with 2010 sales of $25 billion, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 72,000 people worldwide.

-ends-

buglerbilly

27-04-11, 03:13 PM

Submarine Tech Reaches for Ocean Record

The race is on to return to the ocean's deepest point -- and a submarine team says they have a new glass design that can withstand the pressure for multiple trips.

By Alyssa Danigelis

Tue Apr 26, 2011 10:00 AM ET

A prototype of the Triton 36,000 FOD (full ocean depth) submarine, with a protective glass sphere designed to withstand intense pressure at the bottom of the ocean.
Triton Submarines

Conditions at the deepest point of the ocean, 36,000 feet down in the Pacific's Mariana Trench, are so intense that the only manned submersible to make it there was the Trieste bathyscaphe, and that was in 1960.

Enter Triton Submarines CEO Bruce Jones. His team just announced that they've developed new technology for a submersible to take humans 36,000 feet below the ocean's surface to the deepest of the deep.

"This is a real commercial, scientific work vehicle that we expect to get a lot of use," said Jones, who has been in the submarine business for 20 years. "It's not, 'Let's go to the bottom of the ocean one time and then give it to a museum to put on a shelf."

The deep-water submersibles his company currently makes for yacht owners and scientists are certified to go as far as 3,300 feet underwater.

The design for the new vessel, called the Triton 36,000, will be based on the Triton series of submersibles made by Triton Submarines, a subsidiary of U.S. Submarines. Instead of using acrylic for the passenger compartment, they plan to use thick common glass shaped into a sphere. They will use a newly developed technique created by San Diego-based Rayotek Scientific, a glassmaker whose long client list includes Boeing, DuPont, 3M and NASA.

Borosilicate glass, also known as soda-lime glass, has advantages over synthetics.

"Glass under compression gets stronger," said Rayotek CEO Bill Raggio. "You can hire some giant squid to come over with a sledgehammer and just start bashing away on that glass sphere. And it won't hurt it."

Materials expand and contract at different rates, so metal and glass joined together can create structural problems in the deep. To avoid that, Rayotek came up with a novel and proprietary technique to turn the glass into a sphere. Raggio said they're working on patenting it and can't share the details.

"The whole concept is very simple," Raggio said. "When you read the patent, you're going to think, 'Oh man, why didn't I think of that?'"

The plan for the Triton 36,000 is to seat three people -- a pilot and two passengers. The hemispheres of the pressure hull will have a seal that can be removed for entering and exiting. Once people are inside, the sphere is resealed similar to the way a fighter pilot is protected by a dome that comes down over the cockpit.

"They call it the pressure boundary," said Raggio. "It's the boundary between you and instant death."

With such high risks, the glass submersible will undergo extensive testing in a chamber first to make sure it can withstand at least one and a quarter times the intended depth.

"You don't jump in and say, 'How deep can we go?'" Jones said. "We go gradually."

He also pointed out that modern submarine travel has a solid safety record.

The Triton Submarines submersible differs from other projects. Director James Cameron and mogul Richard Branson are financing other vehicles to return to the deep.

James Cameron's commissioned submarine will be made from composite materials and powered with an electric motor. Richard Branson's one-person submarine is made from carbon fiber, titanium, and has a quartz viewing dome. His sub will use hydrodynamic forces to "fly" underwater. That project is expected to cost $10 million.

Currently the Triton 36,000 is in the design and engineering stage, Jones said. He's also in discussions with potential clients, and is confident that the cost per three-seater submersible will be in the $15 million range, far less than the $60 million he said it costs to make a manned submarine that can go 20,000 feet.

Michael Buckingham is a distinguished professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography specializing in marine acoustics. His research group sends small, unmanned spherical glass submersibles equipped with sensors 29,500 feet deep underwater.

"In fabricating the sphere, you have to be very careful in this application to not get any air bubbles in it," he said.

Those flaws could be disastrous, Buckingham explained. So far, though, the material has served his group well.

"Glass was a good choice in our case. I hope it's a good choice in their case," he said.

But Captain Don Walsh, USN (Ret.), who was aboard the Trieste with oceanographer Jacques Piccard in 1960, cautions glass can also be a complicated component.

"[Glass is] very very strong but also a lot of its characteristics aren't understood very well," he said. Walsh continues to consult on deep-ocean projects and was in California recently meeting with Branson's team and the X-Prize Foundation.

"It's a new frontier in material science," he said.

buglerbilly

06-05-11, 03:56 AM

Strong rumour going around in various quarters that Israel will have soon or already has a sixth DOLPHIN Class submarine on order................

buglerbilly

06-05-11, 03:59 AM

Older report but I missed the fact the Koreans are looking at and developing VLS units for their new 3,000 tonne submarines............

05-02-2011 17:38

[Exclusive] Vertical launching system for attack subs developed

A 1,800-ton Type-214 submarine of the South Korean Navy sails in waters off Busan. The diesel-electric sub was built by Hyundai Heavy Industries with technical cooperation from HDW of Germany. After 2018 South Korea plans to build 3,000-ton heavy attack submarines equipped with vertical launching systems that allow a variety of weapons, including long-range cruise missiles, to be deployed. / Courtesy of ROK Navy

By Jung Sung-ki

Korea has developed a vertical launching system (VLS) to be installed on 3,000-ton heavy attack submarines to be deployed after 2018, according to a shipbuilding industry source, Monday.

Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering are subcontractors for the heavy attack submarines.

It is the first time that the development of a submarine VLS in Korea has been confirmed. The Agency for Defense Development (ADD) has already developed one used aboard the 7,600-ton KDX-III Aegis destroyer.

A VLS is a modern type of missile-firing system used aboard submarines and surface vessels of several navies around the world. When installed on an attack submarine, a VLS allows a greater number and variety of weapons to be deployed in comparison to using only torpedo tubes.

Following the development of the VLS for subs, top shipbuilders in Korea and the ADD are also on track to develop an indigenous horizontal tube to launch torpedoes, cruise missiles and mines, the source said.

“The development of a vertical launching system has already been completed, while the development of a horizontal launching system is still under way,” the source told The Korea Times, asking not to be identified. “Developing the horizontal launching tube requires more sophisticated technology than the VLS development.”

The VLS would be used in launching long-range cruise missiles at key targets in North Korea.

The ADD has developed the 500-kilometer-range, ship-launched Cheonryong, which is a modified variant of the surface-to-surface Hyunmoo III-A ballistic missile. The missile range could be extended up to 1,000 kilometers, according to military sources.

The Cheonryong missiles are believed to have already been modified to be installed on Type-214 subs.

South Korea has successfully developed the Hyunmoo III-C surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a maximum range of 1,500 kilometers, following the deployment of the 1,000-kilometer-range Hyunmoo III-B.

With the VLS development, Korea would have an advantage in selling its submarines overseas in the future, the source added.

Currently, the South operates nine 1,200-ton, Type-209 submarines and three 1,800-ton, Type-214 submarines. They are all diesel- and electric-powered and were all built with technical cooperation from HDW of Germany.

As Germany restricts the transfer of key submarine technology, such as launching tubes, Korea would have difficulty exporting any of those locally-built submarines.

The Navy plans to deploy at least three more Type-214 submarines in the years to come.

Beginning in 2018, Seoul plans to build 3,000-ton KSS-III submarines fitted with domestically-built submarine combat systems aimed at automating target detection, tracking, threat assessment and weapons control.

The heavy attack sub will be armed with indigenous ship-to-ground cruise missiles and be capable of underwater operations for up to 50 days with an upgraded Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system.

buglerbilly

06-05-11, 03:54 PM

More on the new Israeli sub................

Israel to Receive a Third Enhanced Dolphin Submarine

By tamir_eshel on May 6, 2011 8:22 am / no comments

An Israel Navy Dolphin class submarine inspected on a Israel Navy Shipyard's dry dock. Haifa, 2007. Photo: Joel Meulemans, Exothermic

The Israeli government has decided to finalize the acquisition of a sixth Improved Dolphin class submarine from Germany, with payment to be spread over several years. The Dolphins are manufactured by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW), which is owned by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. Israel currently operates three Dolphin Class subs, two were financed by Germany and the cost of a third sub was shared by Israel These three submarines were delivered in 1998 – 2000. Two additional submarines are currently under construction and expected for delivery in 2013-2014. Berlin was ready to bear two thirds of the cost of these two constructions but was reluctant to extend such terms to the sixth sub.

The Dolphin is a 1,900 ton submarine designed specifically for Israel, based to some extent on the German Type 209 design. It is powered by standard diesel electric propulsion, and is equipped with four 533mm (21″) torpedo launch tubes, launching torpedoes and surface attack missiles. Four additional 650mm (25.5″) tubes are believed to support launching of oversized weapons, such as a type of submarine launched cruise missile enabling the Israeli Navy an unconventional ‘second strike’ capability – according to unconfirmed reports.

The enhanced version of the Dolphin submarine is extended by ten meters over the original standard Dolphin, utilizing an Air Independent Propulsion, enabling the submarine to remain submerged for weeks, rather than days.

The Dolphin has ten launch tubes fitted to launch torpedoes, missiles, mines or other vehicles. Two pairs on each side are 25.5" (650mm), fitted to accomodate outsized vehicles while the three pairs in between are standard 21" tubes, launching torpedoes and surface attack missiles. Photo courtesy of the Naval Museum Haifa, via submarines.dotan.net

Israel Navy Dolphin class submarine performs emergency surfacing drill. Photo: IDF

© Copyright 2011 - Defense Update

buglerbilly

17-05-11, 03:05 AM

German Group Pulls Out of Greek Submarine Order: Minister

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Published: 16 May 2011 13:25

ATHENS - German shipbuilding group HDW has pulled out of a subcontractor deal to build two submarines at an Arab-owned shipyard in Greece, the Greek defense minister said on May 16.

HDW bowed out due to "major disagreements" on broader project cooperation in Germany between its parent company ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems and Abu Dhabi Mar, the new owners of Hellenic Shipyards near Athens that were to handle the submarine contract, Defence Minister Evangelos Venizelos said.

The dispute concerns the building of two new 214-class submarines and the overhaul of an older 209-class submarine, Venizelos said in a statement.

It does not affect the delivery of three more 214-class submarines that have been completed at Hellenic Shipyards, the country's main shipbuilding facility, the minister said.

The Greek submarine order has been a long-running affair spanning over a decade and dogged by technical disputes, litigation and bribery probes.

Athens in September oversaw a deal to transfer a majority stake at Hellenic Shipyards, the country's main shipbuilding facility, from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems to Abu Dhabi Mar in order to protect thousands of jobs.

The deal had been delayed by Athens' initial refusal to accept delivery of one of the new submarines, Papanikolis, after Greek Navy inspectors declared it defective during test runs off the port of Kiel.

A former Greek defense minister is currently under parliamentary investigation in Athens over bribes allegedly paid to Greek officials in relation to submarine orders signed in 2002.

The Greek government, struggling with a debt crisis and facing a huge effort to restructure its ailing economy, has admitted it can ill-afford new arms purchases.

But in defense of the shipyard deal, Venizelos at the time said the delays "had placed in danger the country's largest shipbuilding industry, thousands of jobs, the entire Greek Navy submarine program and over two billion euros already paid by the Greek state without tangible result."

buglerbilly

18-05-11, 03:31 PM

Plans for successor nuclear deterrent submarine announced

A Defence Policy and Business news article

18 May 11

Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox has today announced that approval has been given for the early phase of design of the submarine that will deliver the UK's nuclear deterrent well into the 2060s.

Nuclear submarine HMS Vanguard arriving back at HM Naval Base Clyde (stock image)
[Picture: CPOA(Phot) Tam McDonald, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]

The submarines that will replace the existing Vanguard Class will be powered by a new nuclear propulsion system known as the Pressurised Water Reactor 3 (PWR3). This will deliver a longer-lasting and more cost-effective capability.

Dr Fox said:

"The continuous at sea deterrent is the ultimate guarantee of our national security and for the past 42 years the Royal Navy has operated continuous patrols to ensure just that.

"We do not know how the international environment will change over the next 50 years and we cannot dismiss the possibility that a direct nuclear threat to the UK might emerge.

"It is simply not the right time to unilaterally give this capability up. This programme of great national importance will also secure the future of one of Britain's major manufacturing sectors."

The approval of this early phase of design - known as Initial Gate - ensures that while the main build decision for the submarines will not be taken until 2016, more detailed design work will be undertaken and long-lead items ordered so that the first submarine is delivered in 2028.

The MOD's Director Submarines, Rear Admiral Simon Lister, said:

"While the Pressurised Water Reactor used in our existing submarines is a robust, highly controlled system that meets our stringent safety standards, the new Pressurised Water Reactor 3 (PWR3) will deliver further improvements such as ease of operation and lower costs over its extended life."

Thousands of jobs will be secured across the country as a result of successor nuclear deterrent contracts being placed. Under this next phase, contracts are likely to cost in the region of £3bn. Overall, it is estimated that the submarines will be within the £11 - 14bn estimate set out in the 2006 White Paper.

As part of the Value for Money Study conducted alongside the SDSR, it was concluded that the MOD could demonstrate its commitment to disarmament by reducing the number of warheads and missiles carried on our submarine and this work is already underway.

The Coalition Government is committed to maintaining a minimum credible nuclear deterrent and policy remains that a minimum nuclear deterrent based on the Trident missile delivery system and continuous at sea deterrence is right for the UK.

The Coalition Agreement reflected the desire of the Liberal Democrats to continue to make the case for alternatives. That is why the Defence Secretary has also announced the initiation of a study to be undertaken by the Cabinet Office and overseen by the Minister of State for the Armed Forces, to review the costs, feasibility, and credibility of alternative systems.

buglerbilly

24-05-11, 04:21 PM

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

Das Boot? Das Running Shoe, More Like

Posted by Bill Sweetman at 5/24/2011 6:55 AM CDT

French shipbuilder DCNS raised eyebrows at last October's Euronaval show with its extraordinary SMX-25 concept for a submarine like no contemporary design - sharp-prowed, with a big but low sail and a jet-like stern. At the IMDEX show in Singapore last week, DCNS gave a few more details of the design.

It doesn't look like other submarines because it's designed for a different job - primarily, anti-surface warfare, rather than anti-submarine warfare. That changes everything. The submarine needs mobility to catch and stay up with surface ships. It will be optimized for survival against active, not passive sonar. It needs a heavy missile load, ready to fire, because surface ships travel in groups and multiple shots can overwhelm the defenses.

Non-nuclear submarines can't run fast for long: batteries don't store enough energy, their circular-section hulls aren't efficient on the surface, and wave effects limit snorkeling speed to 11 knots or so. SMX-25 is therefore designed for high speed on the surface, with a wave-piercing hull and retractable air inlets for three 16 MW gas turbines driving waterjets. Top speed is 38 knots and range at 14-20 knots is 8000 nm.

In action, SMX-25 can ballast to a semi-submerged position with the sail above the surface. It can still run on turbines, the sail is a small visual or radar target, and all 16 missile tubes are ready to fire. Finally, the boat can submerge completely and run on diesel (via a snorkel) or batteries, driving retractable motor-propeller units.

It's a big submarine for a non-nuke, 360 feet long with a surface displacement of 2850 tonnes and 5460 tonnes submerged. under the water, the hull is faceted rather than rounded - like a stealthy aircraft, faceting weakens back-scattered echo from an active sonar.

DCNS argues that the SMX-25 could be remarkably survivable. It is a small target for surface attack - and if engaged by a missile it can dive. Its speed makes it a tough target for a torpedo, and it has sensors above and below the water. And although it looks like something out of Thunderbirds, it is designed entirely around existing technology.

If the SMX-25 has a predecessor in history, it's one that DCNS would rather people forgot about.

In World War 1, the Royal Navy ordered K-Class submarines, powered by steam turbines on the surface, in search of a submarine that could keep up with the battle fleet. The Ks were problematic and unlucky: six of the 18 built were lost to accidents, with one officer expressing the view that they had "too many damn holes."

buglerbilly

01-06-11, 11:53 AM

Discovery could make submarines twice as fast

Written by defenceWeb Tuesday, 31 May 2011 16:25

Begs the question of Infra-red detection of course but could be of use for torpedoes and/or sub-launched missiles...........

Scientists have made a discovery that could lead to submarines and other vessels to travel twice as fast as currently possible in and under water.

The Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) reports that a team at the Swinburne University showed that the drag on hot bodies moving through a liquid can be reduced by up to 85%, doubling their speed.

The physics journal Physical Review Letters reported that the findings could help submarines double their speed under water.

Swinburne researchers Ivan Vakarelski and Professor Derek Chan observed that a heated ball can fall through liquid more than twice as fast as a colder, 'control' ball, according to a Swinburne statement.

The discovery exploits the drag-reducing properties of a vapour layer formed between a hot body and surrounding liquid, known as the Leidenfrost effect.

The Leidenfrost effect can be observed by pouring drops of water onto a hot plate - the drops roll and dance around on the plate instead of staying in one place or spreading out.

"A very hot body - hot enough to vaporise the thin layer of liquid in contact with it - can drastically reduce energy-sapping drag forces when such bodies travel at high speed through the liquid," Chan said.

The research, partly funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), was theoretical in nature, but may have potential military applications.

Chan - an already distinguished ARC principal investigator working in the area of surface science at the nano-scale - stressed the genesis of the discovery was motivated by novel science.

"This is a novel use of an idea that has been around for over 200 years. We did not set out to do the research with any particular application in mind. We were just curious about a new possibility. But we welcome technologists taking it on and developing it further."

He conceded it could have military applications, such as helping to make submarines, torpedoes and even sea-launched missiles drastically swifter for short periods.

"But this is really very fundamental research and I see the possibility of broader applications in efficient energy usage. For example allowing marine vehicles to travel faster and further for the same amount of energy or power, and ultimately contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions," he said.

Chan was part of the discovery team that published the paper, ‘Drag Reduction by Leidenfrost Vapor Layers,' with researchers Dr Ivan Vakarelski, Professor Sigurdur Thoroddsen and Dr Jeremy Marston from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia.

Another method of making underwater objects faster is through supercavitation. This occurs when water pressure is lowered and, since water boils faster/at a lower temperature at lower pressure, creates vapour. Typically, small bubbles of water vapour form, and implode when they come in contact with the more highly pressurised water around them. Supercavitation usually forms around objects moving at high speed (such as propeller blades) and is usually harmful.

The upshot is that objects travel much faster whilst inside a large cavitation bubble. To date, only torpedoes have been able to make use of the supercavitation effect to travel at 400 km/h under water - the typical torpedo travels at only 60-80 km/h.

buglerbilly

06-06-11, 03:13 PM

NATO Submarine Rescue Exercise Improves International Cooperation for Saving Human Lives

(Source: NATO; issued June 3, 2011)

CARTAGENA, Spain --- A demonstration of submarine rescue operations, in the framework of Exercise Bold Monarch 2011, took place today at the presence of Admiral Giampaolo di Paola, Chairman of NATO’s Military Committee (CMC), Gen Nikolay Makarov, Chief of Joint Staff of Russian Federation Armed Forces and Admiral General Manuel Rebollo Garcia, Chief of the Spanish Navy, along with other NATO Officials.

The exercise Bold Monarch is the world’s largest event of this kind, bringing together every three years submarines, ships and aircraft from both NATO and non-NATO countries. The 2011 edition includes the participation of Russia, marking it as the first time a Russian submarine participates in any NATO exercise.

Bold Monarch 2011 is designed to maximize international cooperation in submarine rescue operations – a critical capability for NATO and for all the submarine-operating nations.

During the 12-day exercise, submarines from Portugal, Russia, Spain and Turkey were ‘bottomed’ in a sea area just off the southern coast of Spain. Rescue forces equipped with a range of sophisticated debris clearance, diver-assisted gear and submarine rescue vehicles from Italy, USA, Russia and Sweden, together with a jointly-owned rescue system from France, Norway and United Kingdom engaged in a series of rescue operations for the “sunken” submarines. The exercise will conclude in the next days with a 48-hour coordinated rescue and evacuation operation for some 150 survivors, including many simulated casualties, from a ‘disabled’ submarine.

During the visit to the ships, submarine and rescue systems, the Chairman of the Military Committee was briefed on how this exercises can greatly contribute to enhance partner interoperability, providing specific military training, coordinating military assistance, and cooperating with the chain of command of key nations. Compatibility between rescue assets, standardization of procedures, coordination and cooperation between all national elements, both military and civilian, were among the exercise's objectives shown. The exercise is proving invaluable also for testing the command and control of this kind of incidents under internationally-agreed NATO procedures.

During the demonstration CMC and General Makarov were ‘rescued’ from the Russian submarine through a NATO rescue systems, providing a concrete example on how platforms and procedures can successfully mate.

Thanking the Spanish Navy for hosting the exercise, Admiral Di Paola said that “Exercises like the Bold Monarch 2011, beside the great value of all the objectives in term of improving safety and interoperability at sea, show how much interest and enthusiasm there is, within NATO and beyond, in strengthening networks in the field of cooperation and security.”

General Makarov also stressed the importance of these successful exercises, in light of joint efforts to save human lives.

buglerbilly

07-06-11, 04:23 PM

UDT 2011: Future submarines will require C4ISR upgrades

June 07, 2011

The next generation of submarines will be required to carry additional C4ISR equipment in order to satisfy future operational requirements, according to Manfred Klein, senior VP for project development and research at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW).

Addressing delegates at the Undersea Defence Technology (UDT) conference in London, Klein described the need for additional equipment such as data link and communications technology as well as electronic warfare and an ability to cooperate with special forces (SF) to 'further enhance the operational spectrum of submarines'.

The latter, he said, would involve submarines becoming 'invisible transporters and supporters of combat diver operations', providing space for SF personnel and equipment.

Klein added that next-generation boats would be required to carry 'new weapons and sensors to participate in asymmetric situations' with submarines being used to operate as invisible reconnaissance units deep in enemy waters.

'There, they will need extensive communications and ESM outfits inboard and on masts with working space and accommodation for intelligence teams; [capability for] high-speed data transfers; enhanced optronic systems; and capability to operate drones underwater or in the air; and extended AIP endurance because of a necessity to stay longer in an area close to enemy posts,' he urged.

Additionally, Klein described the development of lithium batteries as being of 'major importance to submarine design', outlining endurance increases between 50 and 400 per cent and reduction in maintenance costs and cycles.

However, Klein warned that navies and industry should not forget the traditional role and capability of the submarine, which provided the 'best bang for the money'.

'We are seeing an increasing number of different missions but we cannot forget this old feature, which is an important part of the submarine,' he concluded.

Andrew White, London

buglerbilly

08-06-11, 06:09 PM

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

Debates Over Lithium-ion Batteries in Submarines

Posted by Christina Mackenzie at 6/8/2011 8:47 AM CDT

Lithium-ion batteries would seem to be the answer to increasing submarines' availability for missions. The technology is ready for application, lithium-ion batteries increase endurance of the submarine from 50% to 400%, they cut the indiscretion rate by 20%, they allow maximum speed whatever the charge, they are totally maintenance free and they allow for maintenance cycles to be stretched to every 10 or 15 years. So says Manfred Klein, senior vice president, project development and R&D at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW).

But Dino Argiropoulos, the expert for submarine and defense batteries at Sunlight, one of the leading battery manufacturers, somewhat surprisingly doesn't agree.

He told me at the UDT show this afternoon that lithium-ion batteries could not simply be fitted into existing submarines and that the cost of modifying these submarines to be able to use lithium-ion batteries was prohibitive. The reasons: all the electrical installation and switching gear would need to be changed together with the prime mover motor because of the lithium-ion batteries' higher voltage and redundant safety electronics would need to be introduced for the lithium which is not a very stable material.

So, these batteries are fine on new-build submarines but not worth modifying existing ones, it would seem.

buglerbilly

10-06-11, 02:21 PM

CSA: Safety Paramount for RN Nuclear Submarine Reactors

(Source: UK Ministry of Defence; issued June 9, 2011)

Following the recent announcement that the next generation of submarines to carry the UK's nuclear deterrent will be powered by a new nuclear propulsion system, the MOD's Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Mark Welland, here discusses the safety of the Navy's nuclear reactors.

Through the Royal Navy's nearly fifty years of operating nuclear submarines it has maintained an excellent nuclear safety record.

HMS Tireless is shown after surfacing in the North Pole ice cap region in March 2007 (stock image)
[Picture: Petty Officer Airman (Photographer) Terry Seward, Crown Copyright/MOD 2007]

Today, the Royal Navy's fleet of 11 nuclear-powered submarines play a vital role in our Nation's defences. Four of these, the Vanguard Class, carry the UK's nuclear weapon strategic deterrent. A further seven attack submarines fulfil a wide range of defence roles, including protection of the deterrent and UK forces, precision land attack utilising Tomahawk cruise missiles, anti-ship and submarine war-fighting, and special forces, intelligence and surveillance operations.

All 11 submarines are powered by a pressurised water reactor (PWR) designed to cope with a hostile underwater environment whilst minimising vulnerability to external factors including combat.

The Ministry of Defence has announced that the submarine to replace the Vanguard Class will be powered by a new nuclear power plant - PWR3. There has been speculation about the safety of the nuclear power plants in the current fleet of submarines suggesting that their design is similar to the design of the reactors at Fukushima and that the naval power plants at sea today do not have adequate safety systems; neither of these claims is true.

There are fundamental common requirements of all nuclear reactor plant designs, including the ability to maintain cooling whilst the reactor is operating and the ability to remove the heat that remains within the fuel for some time after the reactor is shut down.

Various designs of nuclear reactor plant operate across the world, with each design dealing with these fundamental safety requirements differently. The key here, however, is that our designs meet recognised and widely accepted safety requirements; we have a robust regulatory system in place to guarantee that this is demonstrably the case.

A PWR plant designed to power a submarine is very different in scale and design to the reactors at Fukushima. Whilst the precise details of what happened, and the lessons to be learnt, are still being captured, it appears clear that the resultant nuclear emergency was caused in part by the inability to circulate coolant through the shut-down reactors due to a loss of electrical power.

By contrast the nuclear power plants in all Royal Navy submarines are by design tolerant to a complete loss of power supplies as they switch to a passive cooling regime that utilises the surrounding sea to maintain cooling to the reactor core.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Astute sails up the Clyde estuary into her home port of Faslane, Scotland (stock image)
[Picture: Leading Airman (Photographer) J Massey, Crown Copyright/MOD 2009]

Nevertheless, the Royal Navy is never complacent about the safety of its vessels; a review of the evidence from Fukushima is being conducted within the defence programme in parallel with the UK civil programme.

It is a fundamental tenet of reactor plant design that safety does not rely on a single system; safety is based upon a suite of reliable, well-designed and expertly maintained safety systems and protocols with built-in redundancy.

This applies to the ability to cool the reactor both while operating or during shut down, and the ability to replace coolant if lost due to a leak. Moreover the Royal Navy does not simply claim their reactors are safe; safety is measured and compared continuously against internationally accepted and extremely stringent standards. All Royal Navy reactor plants meet these standards, and further improvements are continually sought.

There are few countries that have the capability to design, build and operate nuclear submarines. Producing a small, highly robust reactor plant contained within a submarine hull, withstanding a hostile ocean and wartime environment, and yet safe enough for the crew to live within feet of the reactor core, is a remarkable achievement.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Talent conducts surfacing drills in the Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland (stock image)
[Picture: Petty Officer Airman (Photographer) Gaz Armes, Crown Copyright/MOD 2009]

The United Kingdom is at the forefront of this advanced technology. To protect these advantages the Royal Navy takes operational security very seriously and, understandably, does not publish any details of submarine reactor plant design or operation.

Information security, however, is never allowed to take precedence over the safety of our reactors, and detailed scrutiny of submarine nuclear safety is carried out by expert personnel from within the Ministry of Defence, the Health and Safety Executive's Office for Nuclear Regulation, and by independent nuclear safety assessors.

In addition, the Defence Secretary takes advice on the safety of the defence nuclear programme from a committee of wholly independent and renowned experts from industry and academia. Commodore David Langbridge, Head of the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator, has recently stated that 'the standards set for the safety of nuclear reactors are extremely high, and are met by all the reactors used by the Royal Navy'.

A submariner affixes HMS Triumph's nameplate as the Trafalgar Class submarine returns to Devonport, Plymouth, from operations off Libya in April 2011 (stock image)
[Picture: Petty Officer Airman (Photographer) Angie Pearce, Crown Copyright/MOD 2011]

The Ministry of Defence is now designing the PWR3 power plant for the successor to the Vanguard Class that will come into service in 2028 and remain operational until at least 2060. This offers the next opportunity for a significant step change in the design of the submarine PWR.

Support from the US has helped us to innovate design in PWR3 to the highest international technical and safety standards, whilst, in addition, training UK designers and engineers in US advances in reactor plant design. While the existing PWR design continues to meet all of the required safety standards PWR3 can now be designed to be even more efficient, easier to operate, better value for money, and to set new standards of safety.

Today's Royal Navy nuclear submarines are safe, and will remain so for the future. The selection of PWR3 to power the Vanguard Class successor represents a significant advancement in the continuous development of this remarkable and vital technology.

-ends-

buglerbilly

10-06-11, 02:23 PM

Russian Submarine Works with U.S. Sub Rescue System for First Time

(Source: US Navy; issued June 9, 2011)

AT SEA --- A historic international milestone was achieved when the Russian submarine, SSK Alrosa, mated with a U.S. submarine rescue system during exercise Bold Monarch 2011, June 7.

The coupling of the U.S. Submarine Rescue Diving and Recompression System (SRDRS) and the Russian submarine established an international interoperability and cooperation between the two nations.

"During Bold Monarch, 13 countries worked together to save submariners from the depths of the sea," said Capt. David Dittmer, deputy commander, Submarines North and tactical commander of all the units involved in the exercise.

Bold Monarch 2011 is a NATO exercise supported by both the Submarine Escape and Rescue Working Group (SMERWG) and the International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office (ISMERLO). Submarine escape and rescue is an international humanitarian aid effort that requires cooperation across national and alliance boundaries. ISMERLO was established in 2004 and is the international coordinating hub for global submarine rescue procedure, systems, equipment and support ships. It also ensures at least one of the world's rescue systems is available to be deployed immediately should an emergency occur.

The exercise took place off the coast of Spain, and featured submarines from Spain, Russia, Portugal and Turkey. Submarine rescue systems from the U.S., Russia, Italy and a jointly-owned NATO asset were proven compatible with every submarine.

"We enjoyed this chance to work together," said Capt. George Shelest, a Russian Federation Navy officer from the Russian Federation Navy Liaison Office. "It was a demonstration of good will from both sides, and a demonstration of the compatibility of our systems. I think that gives more of a chance to be saved if something goes wrong."

The coordinator of ISMERLO concurred with Shelest's assessment. "The cooperation shown between all the participants and observers of the exercise demonstrates the growing importance of international cooperation," said Bill Orr. "Now there is a greater chance of ensuring a successful rescue if a submarine casualty occurs."

The historical significance of the operation and exercise permeated the thoughts of all who participated, but resonated greatly with a U.S. Sailor assigned to the Deep Submergence Unit (DSU).

"Deep Submergence Unit is unique," said Machinist's Mate 2nd Class Joel Rivera, a forward attendant for SRDRS and whose DSU command is the U.S. Navy's sole provider of submarine rescue capability. "I never thought I'd be able to walk around on a Russian submarine; before I came to this unit, I didn't know these rescue capabilities existed. As a submariner, I will be more comfortable going back to submarines knowing all of these countries are willing to help if something goes wrong."

Rivera and U.S. Navy Sailor Joe Olin, a second class Navy Diver, presented Col. Zaycer Anton, commanding officer of the Alrosa, a plaque and an American flag to commemorate and honor the historical moment and cooperative effort between the Russian submarine and the U.S. rescue system.

More than 40 countries are known to operate more than 440 submarines world-wide, making the confirmation of rescue abilities between nations vital. These exercises foster safety and the ability to work together on a survival level, and also promote understanding and a commitment to stability through regional cooperation.

-ends-

buglerbilly

22-06-11, 03:11 PM

Second Mesma AIP Ready for Shipment to Pakistan

(Source DCNS; issued June 21, 2011)

NANTES-INDRET, France --- DCNS is ready to ship the second of three Mesma air-independent propulsion modules ordered by the Pakistan Navy for its DCNS-designed Agosta 90B submarines. This module will be installed as part of a scheduled major refit for one of two Agosta 90Bs in active service.

The self-contained hull module will be integrated with the host submarine over the next few months with DCNS technical assistance. A ‘cut-and-plug’ operation will see the 8.7-metre-long ‘plug’ inserted into the boat’s hull. The first Mesma module was integrated directly during the construction of third-of-class Agosta 90B submarine PNS Hamza which entered active service in 2008.

Following the ‘cut-and-plug’, the boat will have a length of 76.2 metres for a submerged displacement of 1980 tonnes. The Mesma module will enable the submarine to remain submerged for weeks at a time.

Following a qualification campaign lasting seven months and tests totalling 5,200 hours, the AIP module was prepared for shipment as a 160-tonne package. The main aims of the tests conducted by teams at DCNS’s Indret centre were to ensure that the module worked as designed and met its performance specifications. More specifically, DCNS engineers and technicians checked the AIP’s output power, endurance and range. These tests were followed by acceptance tests in the presence of customer representatives in March.

The earlier, three-month phase one campaign progressively powered-up this advanced-technology system comprising some 250 components and 2.5 kilometres of electrical cable.

Once the campaigns had been completed, the AIP was disconnected from the test equipment and packed for shipment by barge to the nearby port of Saint-Nazaire where it will be loaded onto a ship chartered by the customer. The voyage to the shipyard in Pakistan will take three to four weeks.

“We have the benefit of some economies of scale,” explains Delphine Bréhéret, the Mesma programme manager at DCNS’s Nantes-Indret centre. “The first module was delivered in June 2002. Knowledge sharing and lessons learned have played an important part. We have now started testing module n° 3. This time, the test teams will include Pakistan Navy engineers.”

The first of the series of Agosta 90B submarines for Pakistan was built at DCNS’s Cherbourg shipyard and commissioned in 1999. The second and third boats were built in Karachi under a technology transfer programme; the third including a Mesma® module from the outset. After deciding to equip the other two boats with AIP modules as they came due for major refits, the Navy placed the corresponding orders. The third module is undergoing qualification testing at the Indret centre.

Mesma, an innovative AIP

AIP systems enable conventional diesel-electric submarines to remain submerged for weeks at a time. Without AIP, diesel-electric submarines have to come up to snorkelling depth or surface at shorter intervals so that the diesel engines can recharge their batteries. This significantly increases the risk of detection. (A submarine’s diesel engines can only be started once the snorkel has cleared the surface to take in fresh air. Snorkelling depth is about the same as periscope depth.) AIP significantly improves stealth because it enables a submarine to generate electricity while completely submerged.

A Mesma AIP plug can be added to a conventional-propulsion submarine at the design stage or as part of a refit.

Technical data for Mesma hull plug:

• diameter: same a submarine’s hull
• length: < 10 m
• output power: 200 kW

A Mesma AIP increases a submarine’s submerged endurance three to four fold.

DCNS is a world leader in naval defence and an innovative player in energy. The Group’s success as an advanced technology company with global reach is built on meeting customer needs by deploying exceptional know-how and unique industrial resources. DCNS designs, builds and supports surface combatants, submarines and mission-critical systems and equipment incorporating the most advanced technologies. The Group employs 12,500 people and generates annual revenues of around EUR 2.5 billion.

-ends-

buglerbilly

01-07-11, 03:22 AM

France Confirms Order of 3rd Barracuda Sub

By PIERRE TRAN

Published: 30 Jun 2011 11:46

PARIS - France has ordered a third Barracuda nuclear-powered attack submarine from naval company DCNS and nuclear power firm Areva-TA, the defense procurement office said in a June 30 statement.

"The Direction Générale de l'Armement (DGA) ordered June 28 2011 from companies DCNS and Areva-TA the third nuclear attack submarine (SSN) Barracuda, as part of the contract signed in December 2006," the DGA said.

The Barracuda program consists of six nuclear boats, worth 8.6 billion euros ($12.4 billion), and is intended to replace the present Rubis class of nuclear submarines, the DGA said. The original contract value was 7.9 billion euros, but the amount has been revised to take into account current prices, in line with the contract terms.

DCNS is prime contractor for the Barracuda program, with Areva prime for the nuclear reactor.

The first and second boats - the Suffren and Duguay-Trouin, respectively - are under construction at the DCNS submarine facility at Cherbourg in northern France. The first-of-class submarine is due for delivery in 2017, with the following boats scheduled for delivery every two years. The last ship will be handed over in 2027.

The Barracuda submarines will be armed with the Artemis heavy torpedo, Exocet anti-ship missile and the planned sea-launched cruise missile. The boats are also designed to handle special operations forces and their equipment, the DGA said.

Construction of the six boats will provide a large amount of activity for Areva, DCNS, the French atomic energy commissariat and about 100 small and medium-sized companies, the procurement office said.

buglerbilly

02-07-11, 05:33 AM

$2.7B Turk Sub Deal With Germany Takes Effect

By UMIT ENGINSOY and BURAK EGE BEKDIL

Published: 1 Jul 2011 15:26

ANKARA - A 2 billion-euro ($2.7 billion) deal between Turkey's arms procurement agency and Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems for the joint manufacture of six submarines formally took effect July 1, the German group announced.

"The 2 billion-euro order for six U214 submarine material packages placed with ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems by the Republic of Turkey has entered into force with receipt of the advance payment," the group said in a statement July 1.

"As a longstanding partner and supplier to the Turkish Navy, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems can now begin executing the order," the statement said. "The order will contribute to securing employment at [ThyssenKrupp's] HDW in Kiel, as well as at many subcontractors in Germany and Turkey, for the next 10 years."

A major loan deal on the last day of 2010 between German banks and the Turkish Treasury rescued the contract between the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, the Turkish government's procurement agency, and German shipyard Howaldswerke Deutsche Werft (HDW), Turkish procurement officials said earlier. Since then, the two sides had discussed the loan's conditions, and that process ended successfully in late June.

Turkey and HDW, an affiliate of the ThyssenKrupp conglomerate, originally signed the submarine contract in July 2009, but no price was disclosed at the time. Turkey originally selected HDW over French and Spanish rivals in the summer of 2008, when officials said the German offer was worth 2.5 billion euros.

Renegotiations over price and a clear road map for Turkish local participation led to a final agreement on a price reduction of more than 500 million euros, bringing down the program's final cost to about 2 billion euros.

Under the Turkish modern submarine program, the non-nuclear vessels will be built at the Navy's Golcuk Shipyard on the Marmara Sea coast near Istanbul. The submarine program will become Turkey's largest defense modernization project after a planned $13 billion deal to buy 100 next-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for the Air Force.

Ankara is hoping the U214 submarines will enter service shortly after 2015, two years later than the original schedule when the program was launched a few years ago.

With a decision to proceed, Turkey scrapped a modernization plan for its older Ay-class submarines, also built by HDW.

Turkey also is building its own corvette-type ships and hopes to produce its own frigates by the end of this decade. Several Turkish shipyards are producing patrol boats, coast guard boats and other amphibious platforms.

buglerbilly

08-07-11, 04:04 PM

Pentagon Contract Announcement

(Source: U.S Department of Defense; issued July 7, 2011)

Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc., Huntsville, Ala., is being awarded a not-to-exceed $37,274,119 contract under its indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the development and test period which consists of an engineering development model, engineering services, training, long lead time materials, and travel.

The contract is for the Shallow Water Combat Submersible in support of U.S. Special Operations Command, Program Executive Office-Maritime.

The work will be performed in Huntsville, Ala., and is expected to be completed within 24 months from issuance of delivery order.

U.S. Special Operations Command is the contracting activity (H92222-11-D-0002).

-ends-

This cross refers to this article from late June 09.................

Britain’s special forces to get Bond-worthy mini-sub

Very interesting article in today’s Sunday Times…

by Matt Bingham:

The ‘shallow water combat submersible’ is a lightweight mini sub with sonar sensors to detect and evade enemy pre-landing

The combat divers of Britain’s Special Boat Service (SBS) will soon be getting some new transport. The “shallow water combat submersible” (SWCS) will be able to carry six frogmen for 100 miles at depths of up to 300ft. Studded with sonar sensors, the lightweight mini-sub is designed to detect and evade an enemy, before landing special forces under its nose.

It is surely no coincidence that the development of the 30ft submersible is being fast-tracked just as maritime piracy rears its head again. Brought to a war zone by a larger submarine, a surface vessel or even an aircraft, the stealth-equipped mini-sub will take specialists in reconnaissance, assassination or demolition close to a hostile coast or vessel. It is being designed for America’s equivalent of the SBS, the Navy Seals.

The new mini-sub will replace the Seals’ and the SBS’s US-made “swimmer delivery system”, known as the Mk VIII boat. The 22ft, electrically powered Mk VIII is ridden by a crew exposed to the sea and owes a design debt to the midget submarines developed by Britain and Japan during the second world war. Sadly, its electronics are nearly as old, dating back to its conception in the mid-1970s.

Its replacement, which will also doubtless be shared by the two forces, also “runs wet” — that is, floods with water once launched, saving the trouble of fitting an airlock. It will benefit from recent developments in electronic warfare, possessing a miniaturised Doppler sonar, the sonic equivalent of radar, able to provide a three-dimensional image of the sub’s surroundings. Coupled with data provided by motion sensors, it will allow the boat’s powerful computers to navigate underwater in zero visibility and with unprecedented accuracy, without the need to surface to obtain visual references or a sat nav fix.

Unlike the Mk VIII, the submersible will have the ability to raise a periscope — but this won’t be an old-school optical version. Instead it will use video imaging technology. Before the main part of this sensor mast even breaks the surface, a whisker-like antenna attached to the top will poke above the waves and sniff for radar activity. If it detects an enemy sweep, the boat dives and moves somewhere safer before repeating the process.

Passive sonar sensors on the exterior and a sound-absorbing fibreglass hull help it to evade detection underwater, and battery-powered electric motors allow it to run almost silent.

The mini-sub will be equipped with a pair of smart, torpedo-like probes. Using side-scanning sonar, they can scout the waters on each side of the boat, returning either to the mini-sub or its host vessel at the end of a mission.

The stealthiest way of launching the mini-sub will be underwater, via another submarine. Like the Mk VIII boat, it will emerge from a dry deck station, an airtight cylinder that can be fitted onto a larger submarine in hours, or even dropped directly into the ocean from a cargo plane. Two such stations will be piggy-backed on the US Navy’s new SSGN boats — Ohio-class nuclear missile submarines that have been fitted for Seal operations.

“SSGNs are a brilliant idea,” says Lewis Page, defence correspondent for The Register, a technology news website. “The Navy had these four boats lying around after the Salt arms reduction talks made them redundant, so they stripped out their ballistic missiles and replaced them with 154 non-nuclear Tomahawk cruise missiles. This also left enough space to accommodate more than 100 Seal frogmen and mission specialists.”

The first underwater cruise missile launch from an SSGN took place last year, and a base is now being built for them in Diego Garcia, the British-controlled island in the Indian Ocean. This would put the boats within operational reach of Somalia, as well as Iran, where they could lurk offshore for months at a time, inserting and recovering Seals via mini-subs.

Britain, meanwhile, will be launching its first SBS stealth sub by 2013 from the Royal Navy’s latest Astute-class nuclear submarines, the first of which is expected to go into service this year.

buglerbilly

11-07-11, 03:45 PM

KONGSBERG signs contract for Command & Weapons Control Systems extensions to Italian Submarines

14:42 GMT, July 8, 2011

KONGSBERG has signed a contract for extensions to the Command & Weapons Control Systems already under contract for delivery to the two new U212A 2nd Batch submarines under construction in Italy for the Italian Navy.

The contract was made between the Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri and KONGSBERG.

The extensions include:

• introduction of the tactical data link systems Link-11 and Link-16
• digital chart systems (ECDIS, WECDIS)
• automatic radar tracking (ARPA)
• automatic identification system (AIS)

KONGSBERG shall also be responsible for integration of new sensor systems and the new developed Italian heavy-weight torpedo (NSP/Black Shark).

With the integration of these new capabilities, KONGSBERG’s Command & Weapons Control System (MSI-90U Mk 2) for conventional submarines will be among the most advanced in the world today.

"KONGSBERG has for more than 40 years developed and supplied Command & Weapons Control Systems to Norwegian, German and Italian submarines. This contract will result in an important renewal of our product range and strengthen our position as supplier of integrated Navigation, Sonar and Command & Weapons Control Systems for submarines. In this context, this is yet another important reference contract for KONGSBERG," says Nils-Oddvar Hagen, Executive Vice President in Kongsberg Defence Systems.

buglerbilly

18-07-11, 04:59 AM

Brazil begins building 4 submarines as nuclear programme looms

Brazil has begun building four diesel-powered submarines as part of a 2008 agreement with France that includes the future construction of Latin America's first nuclear submarine.

Officials have said the submarines will be used to protect Brazil's large offshore oil reserves and exploration platforms Photo: Reuters

11:19PM BST 17 Jul 2011

President Dilma Rousseff attended Saturday's ceremony marking the start-up of operations at the shipyard where the four Scorpene attack submarines will be built.

Each submarine will cost about $565 million. The first is expected to be delivered in 2016.

The Brazilian navy says the four vessels represent a first step in moving Brazil toward construction of its first nuclear-propelled submarine.

Officials have said the submarines will be used to protect Brazil's large offshore oil reserves and exploration platforms.

buglerbilly

18-07-11, 05:16 AM

The UK Daily Mail has changed over the years from a semi-conservative, considered, serious rag to just another 30-second sound bite trash mag......................THIS is the illustration they used for their article on Brazil's Nuke Sub ambitions!!!

Hilarious! :rofl :rofl :rofl

Milne Bay

19-07-11, 06:13 AM

RAN's future Subs get a home

19 Jul 2011

South Australian Premier Mike Rann and Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare have signed a land agreement that reaffirms Defence’s commitment to assemble the Navy’s Future Submarines in Adelaide.

“The State is working closely with the Defence Materiel Organisation to determine how best Techport Australia’s Common User Facility can support the project,” Rann said.

“When we made the decision to develop and invest more than $300 million in the Common User Facility in 2005, we had always intended the precinct would be expanded.

“This is because we wanted to ensure Techport was capable of supporting future naval shipbuilding activity.

“This agreement signed today ensures that the DMO has first option over what happens to land adjacent to Techport.

“Strategically, this is an important move.

“The land immediately adjacent to Techport Australia has been identified as suitable for use in connection with the build or assembly of Australia’s Future Submarines.”

Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare said the agreement assures the Commonwealth first access to about seven hectares of strategic land adjacent to Techport’s Common User Facility, for use by organisations directly involved with the Future Submarine Project.

Ref:
http://www.australiandefence.com.au/news/ran-s-future-subs-get-a-home

buglerbilly

19-07-11, 06:32 AM

One minor criticism mate, please BOLD your titles it looks heaps better that way..............................

buglerbilly

28-07-11, 07:00 PM

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

From Down Under for the Down Under

Posted by Michael Bruno at 7/28/2011 11:14 AM CDT

The Australian defense minister and top military officer are in Washington for talks with U.S. officials, but it is not aircraft or Afghanistan that seems foremost on their minds; it’s submarines.

Their message to Washington: Australia is a proven, “value-added” ally, and our new conventional submarines should complement your nuclear-powered undersea fleet. Also, we would like your help building them.

“I don’t think the alliance relationship has ever been better,” Minister Stephen Smith said at a Brookings Institution speech here July 27. “It makes sense with our allies for those fleets to be strategically complementary.”

In prepared and live comments to the Brookings audience, and in advance media interviews in Australia, Smith has cited U.S. experience with complex defense acquisitions, particularly in subs. “They’re very experienced in this area,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.’s Radio National broadcast July 25.

“Part of this planning is to talk to our friends and partners who have significant expertise in designing, building and operating submarines,” he said at Brookings. “Part of this planning is also making sure that our future submarine, its combat systems and capabilities, is interoperable with U.S. forces so we can continue to work together to meet security challenges into the future.”

buglerbilly

03-08-11, 02:36 PM

Argentina Re-states Intent for Nuclear-Powered Submarines

(Source: Forecast international; issued August 2, 2011)

NEWTOWN, Conn. --- Argentinean Minister of Defense Arturo Puricelli says that the country is considering the development of nuclear propulsion for submarines currently designed with diesel-electric powertrains. The initiative follows a request from President Cristina Fernandez and is closely linked to Brazil's construction of a nuclear-powered submersible with French technology.

According to Puricelli, Argentina has the capability to develop this technology. Argentina's National Atomic Energy Commission and the National Institute for Space and Nuclear Technology apparently have completed designing the CAREM reactor, which can be adapted for use on a submarine.

The two vessels that could receive the new power systems first are the Santa Fé and the San Juan. Construction of the Type 1700 Santa Fé was never completed and is currently under way. The Navy hopes to have the sub conventionally powered and in the water by 2015. A nuclear propulsion system would be added later.

Argentina first expressed an interest in nuclear-powered submarines last year. Former Defense Minister Nilda Garre announced in June 2010 that technical studies toward development were already under way. Critics have discredited the plans, saying that the program would be too costly for the government.

-ends-

buglerbilly

07-09-11, 02:35 PM

Babcock develops innovative anti-torpedo system

05 September 2011 | By Stuart Nathan

A revolutionary launcher powered by compressed air could boost submarines’ ability to evade torpedo attacks.

Every submarine film has that moment. The moment when a torpedo is launched towards the submarine. There’s the tension. The panicked looks. The pings of the sonar. The focused concentration. And someone, always, ends up shouting ’Dive! Dive! Dive!’ as the submarine takes evasive action.

While evasive manoeuvres are important for avoiding torpedo attack, for the past decade or so, the marine defence sector has been developing anti-submarine countermeasures. These are devices that can be launched from the submarine to trick the torpedo’s tracking system into following them, rather than the target.

Silver bullet: in basic terms, the launcher is a compressed-air catapult

However, finding ways to launch these devices has proved rather difficult. A team from Babcock has now come up with a new type of launcher, designed with safety as a priority, which can be retrofitted onto the current submarine fleet to provide an extra layer of protection against a form of attack that all submariners hope will never come.

Torpedos hunt acoustically, explained Jeff Owens, future business director for Babcock’s Marine and Technology Division. ’If there’s a torpedo coming towards you, you want to put a countermeasure in the water that “looks” very much like you do from the torpedo’s point of view, so that you can then quietly move away from the torpedo,’ he told The Engineer.

It does this by emitting a sound signature that convinces the torpedo’s guidance system it should follow the countermeasure rather than the submarine. ’The idea is that it looks more like you than you do,’ Owens said. ’The countermeasure will move into clear space; so if you’re deep, you set the countermeasure to go shallow, so the torpedo will explode above you while you skulk out of the way.’

However, a lot of submarines don’t have the capability to launch countermeasures, partly because it takes such a long time to design and build submarines. ’They’ve been introduced over the past decade, but the cycle time is so long that that’s recent, really,’ Owens said.

Full artillery:a submarine might need up to 20 launchers loaded and ready to launch

Some submarines have internal launch systems, positioned inside the pressure hull and shooting their armaments through the outer casing, but these systems aren’t suitable for countermeasures.

’One of the issues is that you need a lot of launchers,’ Owens explained. ’When a modern torpedo comes towards you, it instantly starts trying to decide whether it’s following a decoy or a real submarine, so a single countermeasure isn’t sufficient: you need to send out several, either at the same time or in a sequence. And these launchers have to be loaded at all times, because you only have seconds to react when a torpedo is launched. If one comes from a helicopter, you’ll hear nothing, then a splash, and you have to respond in seconds.’

“Launchers have to be loaded at all times, because you only have seconds to react when a torpedo is launched”

Depending on how many countermeasures a commander might want to launch to try to fool a torpedo, a submarine might need to have up to 20 launchers loaded and ready to launch. ’There haven’t really been any suitable systems for this,’ Owens claimed. ’There were some external launchers that sit outside the casing, but they tended to use pyrotechnic charges to launch and we found that customers weren’t at all comfortable with that, from a safety point of view.’

The solution that Babcock has developed is a launcher system that sits under the submarine’s outer casing but outside the pressure hull. This makes it relatively easy to install, because the pressure hull itself does not need to be pierced and then repaired.

The launcher itself is, in basic terms, a compressed-air powered catapult. ’It consists of three composite tubes arranged parallel to each other,’ explained Owens. One of these contains the countermeasure itself; one contains a piston, attached to a cable whose other end is attached to a pusher device behind the countermeasure.

High pressure: the solenoid valve releases air from the reservoir into the piston tube

The system is controlled by a solenoid valve. ’When the launcher is operated, the solenoid opens and the air from the reservoir is released into the piston tube. The piston pulls the cable, which in turn pulls on the pusher device in the launcher tube, and the stored countermeasure is hauled out of the tube and into the water. The launch air is kept within the system, so there’s no release of gas into the water; this maintains the submarine’s stealthy acoustic performance and helps it escape.

Part of the design exercise was to ensure that the compressed air stored enough energy to accelerate the countermeasure from stationary to a sufficient exit velocity in a single stroke, Owens said. The system also had to incorporate other features, he added; launching the device had to be a single operation, so sub-systems had to be included to flood the launching tube before the compressed air is released. As the launcher is located outside the pressure hull, the mechanisms in the launch tube also had to cope with whatever water pressure the submarine could encounter. ’We had to find a solution that would keep the store dry when it wasn’t being used,’ Owens explained. ’After all, you really hope that you’ll never have to use one of these. But you don’t want to have to spend time adjusting settings to cope with water pressure, so that’s automatic.’

“The implementation of modelling went further in this project than anything we’ve done before”

JEFF OWENS, BABCOCK

Babcock used a model-based design approach for the launcher, using a digital model to simulate the physics of the launch system. This, Owens explained, was a way of reducing risk in the design process: the model allowed the teams to identify and quantify the stresses the system would encounter and have to overcome throughout the various stages of the launch process. The model was used to appraise concept designs, to understand the trade-offs that would be necessary to make the concept into a reality and to estimate the key design parameters.

’The model-based system incorporated mathematical modelling, which we’ve used for a long time,’ Owens said. ’But the implementation of that modelling went much further in this project than anything we’ve done before.’

The device had to be scalable, to take a range of device sizes from 85mm in diameter to a 200mm-diameter, device. ’It had to be lightweight,’ Owens said. ’We had some problems with the dynamics and the structural integrity of the cable, and there were issues with the composite tubing and its behaviour under the water pressures it would encounter at depth.’

For these problems, Babcock’s dedicated testing facilities were invaluable, Owens said. ’We can test at depth on land,’ he said. ’That helped us considerably when we were tackling these issues.’

model system

Babcock uses an adapted method to track the design process as it evolvesModel-based design is a technique that Babcock has adapted from the control and instrumentation sector, in which it simulates the way that processes occurring in the plant depend on the control system’s operation and vice-versa. It is also used for safety-critical process design in the aerospace, defence and automotive sectors.

As the system models the physics of the process, the effects of different subsystems and design tweaks can be seen as the design process evolves. It also allows members of the developing team to see how their input affects the system’s operation and assists with communication between team members something that is notoriously difficult in multidisciplinary engineering teams.

Read more: http://www.theengineer.co.uk/in-depth/analysis/babcock-develops-innovative-anti-torpedo-system/1009819.article#ixzz1XGlI3cHx

buglerbilly

04-11-11, 03:14 PM

Report on the Continuation of the Submarine Force

(Source: Norwegian Ministry of Defence; issued Nov. 3, 2011)

(Issued in Norwegian only; unofficial translation by defense-aerospace.com)

Submarines currently in service in the Norwegian navy have a technical life expectancy until about 2020. A study led by the Ministry of Defence concluded that no other military capabilities can replace the submarine. The Government has therefore decided to investigate how best to maintain the submarine force beyond 2020.

Further study will be based on the conclusions of a conceptual study conducted by the Ministry of Defence in collaboration with the Armed Forces and the Defense Research Institute. In this study, three different options for future submarine capability were assessed:

-- Option 0: No investment
This option describes the consequences of not carrying out major investments to maintain the submarine operational capabilities.

-- Option 1: Continuation of submarines
The option involves continuation of submarine operations in the military. Alternatives to be explored could involve several solutions, including extending the life of today's ULA-class boats, or the acquisition of new submarines.

-- Option 2: Alternatives to the submarine
The alternative includes existing and new equipment for the military which, together, could fulfill the tasks currently performed by submarines. Possible solutions involve increasing the availability of existing equipment, as well as making existing materials more robust by increasing their weapon and sensor capabilities, along with procurement of new capabilities.

The study concluded that option 1 appears to be the best conceptual solution to meet Defence requirements after 2020.

The conceptual study has been subject to external quality assurance scrutiny in accordance with the Finance Ministry's guidelines. External quality assurance agrees with the study's main conclusion.

Studies to be continued

Based on the study's recommendation and the assessment of external quality assurance, the government has decided to continue its assessment of maintaining submarines in the military structure after 2020.

The first part will prepare the decision basis for the choice between life extension of existing Ula-class submarines and the acquisition of new submarines, or a combination of these two solutions.

The result will be scheduled at the earliest could be available in 2014.

Then the recommended solution will be investigated further in detail, before a final recommendation for any investment is submitted to the Government and ultimately Parliament. This will be the earliest to occur in 2017.

Zero option will always be a possible solution when making investment decisions, and will therefore also be included in future work.

-ends-

buglerbilly

05-11-11, 04:16 AM

OMB Pushes More Tubes, Fewer Boats for Ohio Replacement Subs

By Colin Clark

Published: November 4, 2011

Washington: The White House Office of Management and Budget wants the Navy to reduce the number of SSBN-X submarines it buys from 12 to 10 boats but also to boost the number of missile launching tubes from 16 to 20.

On the face of it, this might save the Pentagon $7 billion over the 15-year life of the program. But there are many buts. Increasing the number of tubes will cost something like $300 million per boat, according to a source familiar with the program. And reducing the number of boats poses an operational challenge. The Navy aims to keep five boats on station around the globe. Normally, that would require 12 SSBN-Xs given the normal rotation. A boat goes on station, comes back, prepares for another mission and undergoes maintenance.

The Navy currently operates 14 Ohio class boomers. They entered service beginning in 1981 and the last boat entered service in 1997. The first boat will reach the end of its 42-year service life in 2027.

"If you go down to 10, then, to meet the station requirements those ships will have to be in maintenance for shorter periods of time. If that's your goal then you'll have to engineer them to be in maintenance for shorter periods," said a Pentagon source.

On the question of costs, the calculus is difficult to perform without access to the OMB analysis. But the source familiar with the program told me that the cost probably work this way. You save $7 billion by cutting two boats. You add $3 billion by boosting the number of missile tubes. Now you're down to $4 billion in savings. Divide that by 10 and you get to this question: "Could you do it by increasing the costs of each ship by less than $700 million for a $5 billion boat?" Our source was not sure. The most likely way to reduce the time a ship of any kind spends in maintenance is to use better materials. Better materials cost more. Better materials are often harder to work with, which increases your labor costs.

But there are operational benefits to increasing the number of tubes per submarine. You could send warheads to a wider array of widely separated targets, something we understand Strategic Command really likes. StratCom, of course, runs the nation's nuclear warfighting and helps drive requirements for all strategic weapons. "You could actually end up with something better," by cutting the number of boats, our source who knows the program paid.

You probably wouldn't save much over the next five years, since the first boat in any Navy class bears the budgetary burden of most non-recurring engineering costs. For the SSBN-X, the first first boat is currently projected to cost $11.3 billion, which includes some $4.5 billion in non-recurring costs. That drops quickly to $5.6 billion.

The fiscal 2012 budget requested $1.07 billion for SSBN-X research and development.

Mercator

10-11-11, 01:48 AM

Why Australia Needs Nuclear Subs
November 08, 2011

By Ross Babbage

The Diplomat:
http://the-diplomat.com/2011/11/08/why-australia-needs-nuclear-subs/?all=true

Australia’s government is considering developing the country’s own submarine fleet. It would be better off buying American.

The Australian Government is courting disaster with its approach to this country’s largest-ever defense program, the purchase of new submarines. The government seems determined to spend over $30 billion designing and building in Australia 12 new submarines that will almost certainly have serious flaws, will be delivered late, will be unnecessarily expensive and will be inadequate for our defense needs.

How could the government get itself into such a bad position? Some key decision-makers have failed to appreciate that Australia now faces a much more demanding security future. As the Pentagon’s recently released annual report on China’s military development makes clear, Beijing’s surveillance, missile, air and naval developments are transforming the strategic balance in the Western Pacific. Indeed, by 2025 China’s military power will be predominant in parts of our region.

There’s also a need to take account of China’s much more aggressive recent military operations, especially in disputed areas of the South and East China Seas. Australian security planners should do everything in their power to negotiate peaceful resolutions of these issues. They would, however, be naive to neglect strong investment in defense capabilities that can deter coercion against us in the 2025-2050 timeframe.

Advanced submarines offer special strategic leverage in the more demanding security environment that’s in store. The best submarines are highly survivable in intense military operations and have the potential to force the leadership of even a major power to pause and think carefully before attacking Australia or our key interests. They are one of only two or three military capabilities that carry this game-changing leverage. So, while Australia will always need some surface warships, armored vehicles and transport aircraft, the truth is that advanced submarines offer unique strategic advantages for us in the troubled times ahead.

All this means we need to get the new submarine program right and do so quickly. Australia has three main submarine options. The government currently favors designing and building our own unique, rather large, diesel-electric submarines, essentially a Collins Mk 2. Second, we could purchase much smaller diesel-electric submarines that are currently in production in Europe. Third, we could purchase or lease from “hot” production lines advanced nuclear-propelled submarines from the United States or Britain.

Designing and building a Collins Mk2 would probably eventually deliver a class of the largest diesel-electric submarines in the world. However, given that the government has yet to launch even preliminary design work, the first of these boats couldn’t be delivered until at least 2028 and more likely 2035-2040. Because they would be a completely new design, they would inevitably experience technical problems, would probably possess some unreliable systems and we should expect them to have relatively low availability. As these Australian-designed boats would be “orphans,” they would also be expensive to maintain and update.

Another problem with the Collins Mk2 option is that buying these boats would be very expensive. Although some parts of local industry would wish us to believe otherwise, by the time that these boats are built, drive-away costs for each boat are likely to have escalated to between $2.5 billion and $3 billion. Moreover, managing a design, development and acquisition project of this complexity may be beyond the capability of the Defence Materiel Organisation. Far worse is the prospect that by 2035, these diesel-electric boats would be vulnerable to detection – and probably early destruction – in intense combat environments.

Australia’s second submarine option is to purchase one of the much smaller class of European diesel-electric submarines. The Spanish S-80 or the German Type 214 boats could be expected to be somewhat more reliable than Australian-designed and built boats. In their most basic form, they would also be less expensive at some $500-$600 million per boat sail away. However, by the time that these boats were modified to carry some of the modern U.S.-sourced sensor, fire-control, weapons and stealth systems, their sail-away price would climb to $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion.

Because of their modest power generating capacity, small diesel-electric boats are relatively slow, have limited endurance and lack the ability to power sophisticated long-range sensors. They would be outclassed in the Western Pacific towards the middle of this century, and they wouldn’t give Australia the powerful deterrent it needs.

The third option is an off-the-shelf purchase or lease of either American Virginia Class or British Astute Class nuclear-powered attack submarines. These boats are at the cutting edge of submarine technology, offer operational dominance in the Western Pacific till at least 2050 and would deliver powerful deterrence against any serious coercion of Australia in this timeframe.

The Virginia and Astute classes are fast and possess almost unlimited endurance. They carry sensors with extraordinary performance such that they can routinely “see” potential opponents well before they themselves can be detected, often at trans-oceanic distances. They have also been designed from scratch to be very flexible and perform a broader range of functions of relevance to Australia.

Both of these submarine classes are in series production. The contract for the 14th Virginia was recently signed for a price of $1.2 billion, but by the time that they are fully fitted out, the sail-away price is $2.5 billion. These boats have now been thoroughly sorted, are demonstrating exceptional operational performance and high reliability and would bring with them class-wide training and upgrade programs.

The most obvious obstacle to an Australian purchase of Virginias or Astutes is that these boats are nuclear-powered. However, their propulsion systems have an exemplary track record, their reactors never need to be refueled and if the boats were leased – say for 30 years – they could be handed back to the suppliers for disposal.

Given these circumstances, one would think that the choice of new submarines for Australia was clear-cut. By far the most capable, lowest risk, most reliable and probably in the long run the most affordable submarines are the Virginias (and possibly the Astutes). The acquisition of 12 of these boats would herald a new level of operational partnership with the United States and substantially strengthen Australia’s contribution to allied operations in the Western Pacific. Canberra’s diplomatic clout in Washington and across the Asia-Pacific would be greatly enhanced. But, most importantly, Australia would have bought an effective insurance policy against the danger of serious coercion or attack during the coming 40 years.

Ross Babbage is a former senior Australian defense official, managing director of Strategy International and founder of the Kokoda Foundation, a not-for-profit national security think tank.
---ends---

buglerbilly

17-11-11, 03:09 PM

Naming Ceremony of Fuel Cell Submarine “U 35” for the German Navy at HDW

(Source: ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems; dated Nov. 15, web-posted Nov. 16, 2011)

Dr. Sigrid Hubert-Reichling christened one of the most modern non-nuclear submarines in the world today at the shipyard of Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH (HDW), a company of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, under the name of “U 35”.

She is the wife of the Lord Mayor of Zweibrücken, the town that has assumed sponsorship of U 35. U 35 is the first boat of the second batch of Class 212A submarines built for the German Navy.

The contract to deliver a second batch of two further Class 212A submarines was signed on 22nd September 2006 in Koblenz with the German Office for Military Technology and Procurement. The submarine building activities are taking place at the shipyards of HDW in Kiel and Emder Werft- und Dockbetrieben in Emden.

The two additional units will be largely identical to their sister ships from the first batch. Of course, they are also equipped with the air-independent fuel cell propulsion system which has already given excellent results in operations with the boats of the first batch.

To meet changes in operational scenarios and to take constant technological advances into account, a number of modifications have been made:

-- Integration of a communication system for Network Centric Warfare
-- Installation of an integrated German Sonar and Command and Weapon Control System
-- Replacement of the flank array sonar by a superficial lateral antenna
-- Replacement of one periscope by an optronics mast
-- Installation of a hoistable mast with towable antenna-bearing buoy to enable communication from the deep submerged submarine
-- Integration of a lockout system for Special Operation Forces
-- Tropicalisation to enable world-wide operations.

Freitag underlined the ability of the boat to carry out operations lasting several weeks continuously deep submerged, thanks to the ultra-modern fuel cell technology on board. With virtually undetectable heat and noise emissions and a hull of non-magnetic steel, the boat will be exceedingly difficult to detect and thus able to operate unnoticed, discreetly gathering important information, monitoring sea areas or supporting covert operations.

The Italian Navy has also decided in favour of a second batch of two Class 212A submarines, which are being built under licence by the local Italian shipyard Fincantieri. That means that the Italian Navy will soon also have four boats of this class available for operations.

U 35 - Technical Data

General boat data:

- Length over all: approx. 56 m
- Height including sail: approx. 11.5 m
- Maximum hull diameter: approx. 7 m
- Displacement: approx. 1,450 t
- Crew: 28
- Pressure hull built of non-magnetic steel

Propulsion system:

- Diesel generator
- SIEMENS Permasyn motor
- Fuel cell system
- Low-noise skew-back propeller

-ends-

geof

18-11-11, 08:17 AM

.. Just out of interest ... seems to me that at the moment the Virginia Class is the only boat that meets the requirements set out for our new subs .. and seeing that nuclear is out of the question ( ?? ) .. could they be fitted with a more "acceptable" form of propulsion >> ??

Unicorn

24-11-11, 01:28 AM

Issue is that they are designed for a massive hotel load which is met by a glow in the dark power plant.

Replacing that requires changing the equipment and operational characteristics to meet a power plant that generates a lot less power a lot less frequently.

Basically it won't work as an off the shelf and modify program.

You might as well start with a blank sheet of paper, it would probably be easier and cheaper.

.

buglerbilly

28-11-11, 11:23 PM

India To Develop AIP Technology for Subs

By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI

Published: 28 Nov 2011 13:38

NEW DELHI - Even as the Indian Navy has announced that it is floating a global tender to procure six air independent propulsion (AIP) submarines for $11 billion, Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony told the parliament Nov. 28 that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is developing such technology itself.

"The DRDO proposes to develop a technology to reduce vulnerability of the submarines available with the Indian Navy. The Naval Material Research Laboratory (NMRL), Ambernath, under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is progressing a technology demonstration project, 'Development of Land-based Prototype for Air Independent Propulsion (AIP),' for submarine propulsion," Antony told the parliament in a written reply, according to an Indian Defence Ministry statement.

The system is likely to be demonstrated by 2015, adds the release.

Last year, the Defence Ministry cleared the plan to procure six conventional submarines with AIP technology, and the request for proposals is likely to be floated by the end of the year or early 2012.

In 2004, India contracted the licensed production of six Scorpene conventional submarines for about $3.9 billion, but the production has been delayed by almost two years.

Under the proposal, six submarines are to be procured, of which three are likely to be built at the state-owned Mazagon Docks in Mumbai; one built at the state-owned Hindustan Shipyard in Visakhapatnam, with the help of a foreign collaborator; and two purchased directly from the overseas vendor.

The six submarines are being procured under the Navy's Project-75, and the subs will be equipped with stealth, land-attack capability and the ability to incorporate future technologies, such as AIP systems, to boost their operational capabilities.

The RfP is likely to be issued to French company DCNS, Germany's HDW and Russia's Amur Design Bureau.

buglerbilly

03-12-11, 12:59 AM

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

Delivery of New Russian Attack Sub Postponed for 2012

Posted by M Pyadushkin at 12/2/2011 11:11 AM CST

The delivery of the first Yasen class (project 885) multirole attack nuclear powered submarine Severodvinsk to the Russian Navy has slipped for the end of 2012, reported Andrey Dyachkov, CEO of Sevmash facility, cited by RIA Novosti. Previously the sub built at this shipyard was expected to be taken into service by the end of this year.

According to Dyachkov, the delay is caused by the bad quality of the ship’s subsystem shipped by the suppliers as well as by the need to finish the testing of the missile weapons installed in the sub. “The missile systems were installed on this ship without completing their government acceptance tests”, he explained.

The Yasen class developed by St Petersburg Malakhit design bureau is a fourth generation sub, reportedly the Russian analogue to the US Seawolf class. It has a length of 120 meters, submersible deadweight of 13,000 tons, speed of 31 knots and an 85-men crew. This sub is designed to strike both surface ships and submarines as well as to attack coastal targets.

Since September Severodvinsk completed two stages of factory sea trials: one to evaluate the navigation safety while the other was to check the missiles’ shooting readiness. Dyachkov confirmed the sub has already conducted the first pop-up tests of the new Kalibr (SS-N-27) missile and said the manufacturer’s efforts will be now focused on the missiles’ testing. Besides Kalibr, Yasen will carry P-800 Onix (SS-N-26) cruise missiles. “We are in fact conducting government testing of the missile system, not the ship”, he said. These tests will take 180 days at sea and are to be finished at the end of 2012.

In 2009 Sevmash laid down the first sub of the improved Yasen-M – Kazan although the contract with the Defense Ministry for the ship was signed only this November. Also in November United Shipbuilding Corporation, Sevmash’s parent company, inked another deal with the military for construction of five more Yasen-M subs.

buglerbilly

07-12-11, 03:49 PM

Upgrading of Submarines A Step Closer

(Source: Dutch Ministry of Defence; issued December 7, 2011)

This week, the Ministry of Defence signed a contract for the refurbishment of the control rooms of the four Walrus-class submarines. A contract was also signed for the delivery of four Super High Frequency (SHF) satellite communication systems.

The contracts form part of the sustainment programme for the Walrus-class submarines designed to assure the deployability of the Dutch submarines up to at least 2025.

The present workstations, [which] date from the 1970s, no longer meet today’s ergonomic and technological requirements. The new consoles receive and collate the diverse information streams incoming on the workstations of the operatives.

The necessary refurbishment was made possible through collaboration between four industrial partners, TNO and the Defence organisation. They brought together the user requirements, technological capabilities and modern ergonomic principles.

Mast

The SHF satellite communication system meets a growing need for sharing globally collected information with national and international partners. Thanks to the new system, the submarines can make contact with the Defence networks and in this way the submarine crews will have the same communication facilities as the crews of other navy vessels. The replacement of the satellite communication system means that the existing communication mast on the port side of the ship will be replaced by a new upgraded mast.

Sustainment programme

The Walrus-class sustainment programme includes improvements to the Combat Management System, by which the sensors and weapons are controlled, as well as to the sonar systems, the communication systems and the so-called platform systems needed for the vessel's operation. In addition, one of the periscopes will be replaced by a modern ‘optronic mast’ in which all the optical functions are digitised and an infrared night-vision system is incorporated.

The implementation of the programme will start in 2013.

-ends-

buglerbilly

08-12-11, 02:29 PM

CNS Joins the Last Sections In France for Brazil’s First Scorpene Submarine

(Source: DCNS; issued December 8, 2011)

CHERBOURG, France --- Yesterday at its Cherbourg centre DCNS started the last joining of sections of the first Scorpene submarine for Brazil. The welding of sections 3 and 4, a key step for assembling the forward part of the submarine, is a strong symbol in terms of technology transfer.

Yesterday morning in Cherbourg, the 12 welders of the French-Brazilian team started the final operations for joining the sections of the first Scorpène for Brazil. The next assembly operations will be carried out in Brazil. Four days will be needed for this operation, consisting in assembling the rings forming the forward part of the submarine by welding.

The resulting assembly, around 6 metres in diameter, 24 metres long and weighing 200 tons, will subsequently accommodate systems including the operations centre, the torpedoes and the platform utilities (water, gas, electricity, etc.). During the first half of 2012 the tanks and large structures will be added to this hull, as well as the bridge fin, the ballast tanks, the access trunk and the fresh air induction cupola.

As part of the technology transfer, the Brazilian welders have received three months of training so that they could obtain the required qualifications. The contract covers the design and construction of four conventional submarines with technology transfer. The Cherbourg centre is currently host to 36 Brazilian trainees, bringing the number of trainees to 115 since the beginning of the contract.

Bernard Planchais stated: “This step is another successful milestone in the completion of this ambitious programme. It demonstrates the capacity of DCNS to implement a partnership that is both human and technological at the service of an international navy.”

The contract for Brazil also covers assistance with the design and construction of the non-nuclear part of the first Brazilian nuclear-powered submarine and support for the construction of a naval base and a shipyard. The first of the four conventional submarines is scheduled to enter active service in 2017. They have a conventional diesel-electric propulsion system. With a length of about 75 metres, their surface displacement is close to 2,000 tons. They are operated by a crew of 30 to 45 persons.

The four conventional submarines meet the particular specifications of the Brazilian Navy. They are optimally configured for the needs of protection and defence of the 8,500 kilometres of the Brazilian coast. They are multi-purpose ocean-going submarines designed for all types of mission, including combat against surface ships, anti-submarine warfare, deep-penetration strikes, special operations and intelligence gathering.

DCNS is a world leader in naval defence and an innovative player in energy. The Group’s success as an advanced technology company with global reach is built on meeting customer needs by deploying exceptional know-how and unique industrial resources. DCNS designs, builds and supports surface combatants, submarines and mission-critical systems and equipment incorporating the most advanced technologies. The Group employs 12,500 people and generates annual revenues of around EUR 2.5 billion.

-ends-

buglerbilly

17-01-12, 01:48 PM

Contract for Supply of Combat Management System to Norwegian Submarines

(Source: Kongsberg Defence; issued January 16, 2012)

Kongsberg has signed a contract for supply of the MSI-90U Mk 2 Combat Management System (CMS) to the Royal Norwegian Navy’s Ula class submarines. This contract is made between the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation and Kongsberg. The contract value is approx. 200 MNOK.

Kongsberg has for 40 years supplied Command & Weapons Control Systems to Norwegian, German and Italian submarines and this contract results in an important renewal of our product range for submarines. The contract is the result of a long term effort to strengthen our position as supplier of complete integrated Navigation, Sonar and Command & Weapons Control Systems for submarines.

"This new contract for delivery of the MSI-90U Mk 2 CMS is a continuation of the on-going contracts for delivery of the new Passive Sonar System and integrated Submarine Navigation System for the Ula class. In this context this is yet another very important reference contract for Kongsberg”, says Executive Vice President Nils-Oddvar Hagen in Kongsberg Defence Systems.

-ends-

buglerbilly

04-02-12, 01:30 AM

New Submarines Improve Performance

Feb 3, 2012

By David Eshel, Maxim Pyadushkin, Sunho Beck
Tel Aviv, Moscow, Seoul

The original stealth weapons, submarines may be second only to unmanned systems in the degree to which they have exploited new technology in the past two decades. Major advances have included air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems, increasing submerged endurance and mobility; automation, reducing crew size (and consequently, life-cycle costs) and improving habitability; electro-optical masts that can sweep the horizon with high-definition in seconds and drop out of sight; and new torpedoes and other weapons. On the near horizon is the the mating of SSKs with unmanned air and underwater vehicles (UUV).

One of the newest SSK designs in the world is the TKMS/Kockums A26, in development for the Swedish Navy and due to become operational late in the decade. The 1,800-ton A26 builds on experience with the Gotland class—which proved a headache for the U.S. Navy during two years of “aggressor” operations out of San Diego—and likewise uses Stirling-cycle AIP propulsion, with a submerged endurance of up to 18 days. (Kockums AIP technology is also used on Japan’s 16SS.)

New features include a low radar-cross-section sail, an integrated tube-type “multimission portal” for swimmers and UUVs, and what the builder calls Genuine Holistic Stealth Technology (Ghost), giving the A26 lower sonar signatures across all bands than the Gotland. For example, noise and vibration isolation techniques are improved, including damping plates between hull frames. Airflow speeds in ducts are limited and cable and pipe turn radii are above set minima. The A26 has new features such as a smart degaussing system that uses external sensors to match the boat’s magnetic signature to its background. It will be operated by a crew of 26.

TKMS’ Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) unit in Kiel, Germany, is also leading a two-year, $100 million upgrade of the Israeli navy’s three Dolphin submarines at Israeli shipyards. Dolphin, Leviathan and Tekuma will be joined by two more subs, enhanced with AIP, under construction at HDW, while acquisition of a sixth is being negotiated.

The upgrade includes 10 launchers per boat for Rafael’s Torbuster, a fourth-generation, hard-kill decoy that seduces incoming torpedoes using technology based on the Rafael’s decoys for surface ships. Upon detection of an incoming torpedo, the sub releases the decoy from an external launcher, which propels itself to a safe distance before attracting the incoming torpedo by transmitting acoustic signals, using reactive acoustic deception.

Torbuster actively engages the torpedo as it closes in, activating an explosive warhead when the target is at the closest proximity, inflicting sufficient damage to the torpedo to neutralize it. The system is operated from a single console, a launcher control unit. The operator is able to monitor the decoys in the launchers, to follow and activate the launchers, and to control the system’s safety interlocks and devices.

Another element of the upgrade is Rafael’s Sea-Com, a hardened, secure, Internet protocol-based communications suite integrating internal voice, data and video communications, as well as external radio and satellite links. Sea-Com reduces sensor-to-shooter time through efficient collaboration of multidisciplinary systems and real-time access to information resources.

Russia’s Project 636 SSK, called Kilo in the West, set standards in the Cold War, but its designer—St. Petersburg-based CDB Rubin—is now playing catch-up after years of underinvestment. Rubin’s general director, Andrey Dyachkov, tells DTI that the company is completing bench-testing of a prototype AIP system.

The system is a hydrogen fuel cell, as used by TKMS-HDW, but instead of operating on stored hydrogen, it relies on chemical re- formation of the sub’s diesel fuel, which eliminates special on-board tankage and hydrogen infrastructure on shore. According to Dyachkov, this technology has already been validated during AIP bench tests. “This allows us to use the standard diesel fuel and doesn’t require complex ground support” compared to the German variant, he explained.

Rubin plans to install AIP in the Amur 1650, offered for the Indian navy’s tender for six conventional submarines. An export version of Russia’s Project 677 Lada class, Amur has a surface displacement of 1,765 metric tons, submerged speed of 19 kt. and a crew of 35. It is designed to strike both sea-based and fixed land-based targets. The 66-meter (217-ft.) boat carries six torpedo tubes and Klub-S (SS-N-27) missiles in 10 vertical launchers that can be fired in salvos. For the Indian tender it also will be equipped with Russo-Indian PJ-10 BrahMos supersonic missiles fired from the same launchers.

The AIP can be installed in the Amur 1650 in a separate module along with the conventional diesel-electric propulsion system. Using the AIP, the sub’s endurance can increase by two or three more weeks from 45 days currently, based on a customer’s request. Continuous submerged time increases from the current nine days to 14-20 days.

The first Project 677 boat, the St. Petersburg, is undergoing reliability testing with the Russian navy in the Baltic Sea. In 2012, it is expected to complete the testing of its sonar system, says Dyachkov. The Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg are constructing two more, the Kronstadt and Sevastopol, but so far there are no funds for completing these with AIP.

Rubin plans to further increase Amur 1650 endurance by replacing lead-acid batteries with lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries. The designers do not report about their progress in this field, but say that lithium-ion batteries will be able to increase the sub’s submerged endurance and distance by 50% at low noise patrol speed and threefold at full speed. Unlike the AIP, which is only compatible with the Amur, the new batteries can also be offered for Rubin’s Project 636 Kilo boats.

Li-Ion batteries are a key feature of another radical new submarine, under development since 2008 by South Korea’s Agency for Defense Development (ADD)—the new-technology 510-ton KSM-500A mini-sub.

South Korea has two 150-ton Dolgorae-class minis for special operations and ASW training, but as plans for a replacement have evolved, the requirements have expanded. From the outset, the new sub was intended to attack large surface units, and initial plans were for a 15-kt. speed, 2,000-nm range and two weeks of submerged endurance. The ADD explained that the speed was the minimum required to escape from a counterattack after firing torpedoes at major surface units, and the range covers operations into the coastal waters of potential adversaries. For underwater endurance, the ADD called for more than two weeks.

Then, the March 2010 sinking of the corvette Cheonan by a North Korean torpedo—most likely from a Yono-class midget submarine—brought the small-sub concept into the spotlight as a possible counter to the North’s 70-strong sub fleet.

The latest concept, the KSM-500A, unveiled in October 2011, is even faster and has a three-week endurance. It carries six torpedoes—two 533-mm heavies to attack surface ships and four 324-mm lightweights to target submarines—plus a payload interface module that can hold missiles or mines. The craft is designed to carry 10 crew and up to seven combat swimmers.

The notable feature of the KSM-500A design is its propulsion, which is all-electric. By dispensing with diesel generators and relying on Li-Ion batteries with more than twice the energy density of lead-acid ones, the KSM-500A will both be “ultra-quiet” and able to sprint for greater distances above 10 kt. than current small submarines, the ADD claims. Packaging a motor, rotor, stator and propellers into an integrated motor-propulsor eliminates the drive shaft and makes room in the aft compartment for a payload module, while a flank-array sonar can extend over almost the whole length of the hull because there is no noisy machinery in the aft section. The KSM-500A concept is not yet frozen and a hybrid system, comprising an AIP unit and Li-Ion batteries, is still an option.

While lethality, survivability and mobility are still the focus of most design efforts, DCNS, the French military shipyard, recently completed the world’s first study on the environmental impact of a submarine’s life-cycle, seeking innovative ways to reduce this impact.

Eric Fusil, the study’s leader, tells DTI that “in general when you improve the environmental impact your product also becomes more efficient in terms of functionality and cost. This has been the case with Sepia [Submarine with Environmental Performance Improvement Along-life], a name we chose with a nod and a wink to the Latin name of the common cuttlefish, famous for its excellent ability to camouflage.”

Sepia analyzed a submarine’s damage to human health, ecosystems and natural resources depletion, and the solutions found—while maintaining the same strategic performances as a Scorpene submarine—save 160 tons of fuel a year, or 40%, and cut the global environmental impact by 35% while eliminating liquid and solid waste disposal at sea.

The team considered every step of the entire life cycle and every part of the ship, including packaging and related products such as consumables and electricity consumption on the construction site. They looked at the materials used, the manufacturing process, the period of active duty, maintenance and dismantling.

“All the solutions we chose were at least at a prototype stage,” says Fusil. The silicone hull coating, for example, already exists. It not only reduces drag but is also non-toxic for the organic matter (shells, etc.) which tries to latch onto the ship. “They can latch onto this surface for a short time, but it comes off in micro-particles, taking the matter with it,” explains Fusil.

The Sepia design has a shrouded propulsor and dual drive motors, a smaller one for patrol and a larger one for sprint. Li-Ion batteries would be used, helping reduce life-cycle diesel consumption by 40%.

With Christina Mackenzie in Paris and Bill Sweetman in Washington.

TKMS/Kockums Concept