BAE Systems Concept Submarine

http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/2427.html ^

[Da_Shrimp]

Odd new concept sub the Royal Navy is currently looking at.. looks a bit stange, any submariners or navy types out there care to comment? Is the US Navy looking at similar concepts?

[Da_Shrimp]

Duh!

"Looks a bit strange"

[Starwind]

Hmmm...

Hard to say. Overall displacement and tonnage isn't obvious, and there are no signs of typical surface periscope or con, and doesn't appear to have torp tubes nor missile silos....

so my guess would be stealth surveilance and tracking...kind of an underwater hawkeye?

[RightWhale]

Looks like major hatch covers near midships. Probably carries cruise missile or ASROCs.

Hull shape looks stealthy, and perhaps very low drag. Fast and quiet if propulsion is so designed as well.

[SCHROLL]

the HMS Platypus?

[Starwind]

Looks like major hatch covers near midships.

Yeah...noticed those...looked more like bay doors than silo caps, so either a way to launch 1 large something, or insert 2 D-size batteries into the model :)

What are ASROCs?

[Da_Shrimp]

HMS Platypus

LOL yeah, looks a lot like one! The RN site describes the front sensor array as a platypus bill!

[RightWhale]

Anti-Submarine rocket torpedos.

[Still Thinking]

Aquatic version of the Enterprise?

[LasVegasMac]

ASROC....

Vertical Launch ASROC (VLA) Missile Description: Quick reaction, all weather, intermediate range, Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) weapon launched from surface ships. Background: The VLA Missile is a rocket propelled, three stage, Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) weapon designed for deployment on CG47, DDG51, and DD963 Class ships equipped with the MK41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) and MK 116 Mod 4A/6/7/8 Fire Control System (ASWCS subsystem of the AN/SQQ-89 (V)). The VLA Missile provides the fleet with the capability for rapid response, all weather delivery of a MK 46 MOD 5 Torpedo against threat submarines in any direction at intermediate ranges. VLA Missiles were introduced into the fleet in 1993 as a baseline weapon for the Ticonderoga-class AEGIS cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class AEGIS destroyers and as a replacement for the ASROC weapon on Spruance-class destroyers when the original ASROC launchers were replaced by the MK 41 VLS. VLA missiles were first introduced with the MK 46 MOD 5A(S) torpedo as its payload (RUM139A). In 1996 an upgrade was implemented to allow the enhanced shallow water capable MK 46 MOD 5A(SW) to be incorporated as the VLA Missile payload (RUM139B). This upgrade is being retrofitted into the entire VLA stockpile and is scheduled for completion in FY-01. VLA Missiles are delivered to the fleet as All-Up-Rounds (AURs) which consist of the VLA Missile installed inside of a MK15 MOD 0 VLS Canister. VLA Missiles have two basic fleet configurations, Warshot and Exercise. VLA Warshot missiles contain a MK46 MOD 5A(S) (or MOD 5A(SW) Warshot Torpedo. VLA Exercise missiles contain an Exercise vice Warshot Torpedo, and are used for fleet exercise firings.

Point of Contact: Public Affairs Office Naval Sea Systems Command (OOD) Washington, DC 20362 (703) 602-6920

General Characteristics, VLA Missile Primary Function: Surface Launched Missile, Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapon. Contractor: Lockheed Martin, Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems - Akron, Ohio (formerly Loral Defense Systems, formerly Goodyear Aerospace). Unit cost: Approximately $350,000 (less torpedo payload). Power plant: Solid propellant rocket motor. Length: Warshot: 16 feet, 0.6 inches (4.85 meters) / Exercise: 16 feet, 8 inches (5.04 meters) Weight: Warshot: 1407 pounds (633.15 kg) / Exercise: 1377 pounds (619.65 kg) Diameter: 16.6 inches (42.2 cm) Wing Span: 26.87 inches (68.3 cm) Range: ASW Intermediate range Guidance system: Inertial Guidance Warhead: MK 46 MOD5 Torpedo (98 lbs. of PBXN-103 high explosive (bulk charge) Date Deployed: 1993 (RUM139A); 1996 (RUM139B)

LVM

[Brett66]

Wonder what the flattened nose is for? Is that like the command deck on the starship Enterprise?

[Paleo Conservative]

Wonder what the flattened nose is for? Is that like the command deck on the starship Enterprise?

This is from the linked webpage.

Sensor Arrays

Ultra-Sophisticated all-round sonar coverage achieved through platypus bow sonar and after fin arrays.

[Quix]

WHATEVER HAPPENED to the Japanese fluid drive boat or sub . . . I think it was a surface boat. . . ship . . . which ionized or some such altered water or managed to get water to react in such a way that it forced it out the back of the boat WITH NO MOVING PARTS other than the boat kind of like a maglev train.

I thought when I read of it that there was more potential there than they were admitting. As I recall, the boat had passed a number of trials and the Japanese were very tight lipped and limited in what they disclosed supposedly for proprietary technology monetary reasons but to my mind defense reasons as well though those were not much mentioned in the article.

Anyone remember such with enough keywords to search the web about it?

[Robert A Cook PE]

They're gonna have REAL problems at sea surfaced ... there's a reason that the conning tower is present on every previous submarine since the Hunley and Turtle (despite the extra drag and noise.)

Waves will cover the whole upper surface... will screw emergency recovery conditions, transit before diving, and periscope depth operations.

A curved upper surface at periscope depth tends to "suck the hull" up towrads the surface and broach the boat. Makes it harder (slower) to recover (dive) also after you broach.

They'll need some place to stow a 4-5 66 foot periscope and radar/radio/satellite masts too. Snorkel as well.

[Fred Hayek]

You are describing a magneto-hydrodymanic drive, however, that may need to be inside the hull - mostly due to the field coils. Such a drive was part of the propulsion of the fictional Red October .

Just one problem with such a drive. While it may be quiet, would it not be easily detectable by a MAD?

[Poohbah]

While it may be quiet, would it not be easily detectable by a MAD?

Yes, but MAD is still an extremely short-range sensor (about one mile). It's used to confirm a possible/probable sub contact, not as a search sensor.

[Mariner]

All weapons portal are covered even with the skin.....and not much but sensors in that nose (wouldn't be able to withstand high pressures. The nose must reduce the sonar signature.

The prop covers/semi-turbines reduce cavitation at higher speeds.

They all seem like obvious guesses to me, but I'm open to correction.

[Willie Green]

Fast and quiet if propulsion is so designed as well.

Does it make "bloop" noises?

[The Duke]

It looks like something Hillary and Rosie might have dreamed
up during the Clinton years.

[John Jamieson]

try the hunt for red october