Posted on 02/26/2010 3:28:03 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Sweden orders new cutting-edge subs
Written by Leon Engelbrecht
Friday, 26 February 2010 08:30
Kockums AB, part of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, has signed a contract with FMV (the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration), for the design phase of a next-generation submarine, to be known as the A 26 class.
The A 26 features several advances in the development of underwater technology and marks the adaptation of submarines to meet current and future threats and to conduct the international mission now required, the Swedish shipbuilder says. “This refers particularly to the submarine’s role as an information gatherer. Next-generation also refers to further refinements in terms of stealth technology. The submarine will be able to see and hear everything over a wide area, while itself remaining undetected,” the company says.
The submarine will be designed to be efficient in the Baltic and other littoral waters, but will also have an oceangoing capability. “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,” says CE Ola Alfredsson. “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 adds.
The boat will be powered by a conventional diesel-electric propulsion machinery, and equipped with the 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 higly invulnerable to underwater explosions through a verified shock resistance.
The A 26 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
Can any of you really smart FReepers tell a guy why a country with less than 10 million people needs to spend big bucks on submarines? That’s like New York City buying a submarine.
I myself was wondering what great International requirement Swedn had that needed a submarine.
Their greatest problem is the Muslim one and that will be won by the Muslims inside their own country.
1) Fear of the Russians
2) Keeping a major Swedish employer in business
3) Hope of eventual export sales of the sub
‘Cause they share a border with the Sov, er, “Russia” who has a history of violating their territorial waters?
Why?
When Russia invades Sweden AGAIN the Swedes will roll over just like the French when the Germans invade AGAIN.
What are you talking about? The Russians didn't invade Sweden. They invaded Finland and the Finns did not roll over.
No nukes?
They do, indeed need to export their muslims - don't we all. If one wants to be an insane fanatic, they should be sent where insane fanaticism is the norm.
They plan to sell it.
It’s a great idea until you need to surface to recharge the batteries and there’s a typhoon above you.
When Russia invades Sweden AGAIN the Swedes will roll over just like the French when the Germans invade AGAIN.
It's not so clear. The Swiss and Swedes adopted postures of armed neutrality during the last war and it served them well. They made it clear that attacking them was more trouble than avoiding them. In order for this strategy to work you need a credible military, which both have. (Thing Saab.)
BTW, until the Nineteenth Century Sweden was generally the aggressor in its wars.
The Russians consistently violate Swedish waters with some impunity. They remain a potential threat to their nearest neighbors.
I’m sure they can recharge using a snorkel, but how stealthy are they with the diesels going and the snorkel poking out?
Indeed.
IIRC, the US and other NATO allies have scheduled exercises against this type of sub, in an effort to better understand how stealthy our nuclear subs really are.
In a typhoon?
Considering they can stay under for weeks, it’s probably not an issue.
Air Independent Propulsion (AIP). Check it out. They can remain submerged for weeks.
The US Navy has had one of the Swedish subs on loan for over a year now, trying to figure out how to detect it. In mock battles it has "sunk" several of our ships -- including carriers.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_S-363:
In October 1981, the Russian Submarine U-137 accidentally hit an underwater rock about 2 km from the main Swedish naval base at Karlskrona. The boat was stuck on the rock for nearly 10 days. The Soviet Navy sent a rescue task force to the site in Sweden; it was composed of heavily armed destroyers and high sea tugs.When the Swedish Defence Research Agency secretly started measuring for radioactive materials through the hull, using a specially configured Coast Guard boat, they detected something that was almost certainly Uranium-238 inside the submarine. They speculated it originated from a nuclear weapon – a torpedo, in the upper port tube.[citation needed] The yield of this weapon was estimated to approximately the same as the bomb dropped over Nagasaki in 1945. However, no nuclear weapon on board U 137 was ever officially confirmed by the Soviet authorities.[1] Vasily Besedin later confirmed that there were nuclear warheads on some of the torpedoes, and that the crew was ordered to destroy the boat, including these warheads, if Swedish forces tried to take control of the vessel.[2].
Sweden's centre-right government at the time was determined to safeguard Sweden's territorial integrity. As the Soviet recovery fleet appeared off the coast on the first day, a fixed coastal artillery battery locked onto the ships, showing the Soviets that there were active coastal batteries on the islands. The fleet didn't turn immediately and as they came closer to the 12-mile (19 km) territorial limit the battery was ordered to go into war mode on its targeting radar turning it from a single frequency mode to a frequency hopping mode. The Soviet fleet reacted almost immediately to this and everything except a heavy tugboat turned and stayed in international waters, the tugboat was quickly met by Swedish torpedo boats and it left as well.
Days later as the Soviet Captain was being interrogated the weather was very bad and the Soviet submarine sent a distress call. In Swedish radar control centers the storm was interfering with the radar image. Soviet jamming could also have been a factor. As the Soviet submarine sent its distress call two ships from the nearby Soviet armada passed the 12-mile (19 km) limit headed for Karlskrona. This produced the most dangerous period of the crisis and is the time where the Swedish Prime Minister Thorbjörn Fälldin gave his famous order to "Hold the Border" to the Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces. The coastal battery now fully manned as well as the mobile coastal artillery guns and mine stations went to "action stations". The Swedish Air Force scrambled strike aircraft armed with modern anti-ship missiles and reconnaissance aircraft knowing full well that the weather didn't allow rescue helicopters to fly in the event of an engagement. After a tense 30 minutes Swedish FAC's had met the ships and identified them as West German grain carriers. The crisis was over.
It’s not my typhoon, it’s yours. The U.S. Navy doesn’t like to surface to recharge. A nuclear power plant limits stealth because you can never turn off the cooling. We could make quiet (when not charging) diesels but choose not to.
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