Free Republic

The 70-metre long vessel, christened the Invincible, will soon be in operation in Singapore waters. (Photo: Jeremy Koh) SINGAPORE: With the launch of RSS Invincible in Kiel, Singapore is the latest Asia-Pacific country to introduce new-generation submarines, riding on a persistent trend observed amongst regional navies in acquiring undersea capabilities. Notably, just last year alone South Korea launched its first 3,000-ton KSS-III submarine that has enhanced long-range missile strike capabilities. Japan too has introduced the world’s first submarine equipped with lithium-ion batteries for enhanced underwater performance. Further south, Australia just last week inked a strategic partnering agreement with France, committing...

Japan’s Soryu-class diesel-electric attack submarine. You don’t often think about France and Australia, unless you really know your history and know that a French explorer arrived in the Antipodes days after the First Fleet arrived from Britain and that much of the vast continent was surveyed by French sailors. But France and Australia may grow much closer, as Breaking D readers know, if they can sign a strategic partnership agreement to clear the path for work on a stealthy attack submarine known as the Shortfin Barracuda. That is beginning to look less likely, with French and Australian politicians and policymakers...

TOKYO -- Japan's first submarine powered by lithium-ion batteries was launched on Thursday, symbolizing domestic defense contractors' hopes that innovations can allow the industry to survive amid renewed pressure from Washington to procure more American military gear. The 84-meter Oryu was lowered into the water at the Kobe shipyard of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the vessel's developer, after being christened with a bottle of sake. The submarine can reach speeds of roughly 20 knots and displaces 2,950 tons. It will be delivered to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force in March 2020. The Oryu is the eleventh submarine based on the Soryu's...

Virtual rendition of the submarine S-80Plus. NAVANTIA The problems surrounding the bizarre story of the Spanish Navy’s new submarine, the S-80 Plus, have yet to be completely resolved. First, a design flaw meant that the vessel was so heavy that it could not resurface, forcing engineers at the Navantia shipyard to add 10 meters to its length and increase its displacement of water by 800 tons to improve buoyancy. Now it turns out that this larger version of the S-80 does not fit inside its naval base in Cartagena, in southeastern Spain. This will force the Defense Ministry to enlarge...

Type 218SG submarines. (Photo: MINDEF/Facebook) SINGAPORE: More than 30m under the waters around Singapore, where light hardly penetrates the murky depths, noise is perhaps the last thing you would expect. But the Republic of Singapore Navy’s (RSN) latest submarine, the Type 218SG, hears and senses a cacophony of chatter. Not of people, but of the 2,000 ships that sail through the Singapore Strait every day. “Many of the boats in the world are not designed for such environments: Warm, shallow, noisy, crowded,” RSN’s head of naval operations Cheong Kwok Chien told Channel NewsAsia in an exclusive interview on Saturday (Jun...

A Royal Navy submarine was hunted by Russian warships in a 'cat and mouse' pursuit under the eastern Mediterranean shortly before the UK took part in airstrikes against the Assad regime in Syria, it has emerged. Russian hunter-killer submarines, nicknamed 'Black Hole' because of their stealth, chased the British Astute-class submarines over several days, supported by two frigates and an anti-submarine aircraft, according to a military source. UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said today that the UK would have to take 'precautions' against Russian cyber-attacks, after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of 'consequences' following the airstrikes by the UK, US...

A think tank commissioned by the South Korean Navy to study possible options for a nuclear-powered attack submarine procurement has pointed to France’s 5,300 ton Barracuda-class submarine as a model candidate. Manufactured by French industrial group DCNS (Direction des Constructions Navales), the Barracuda-class is a modern class of nuclear attack submarine, notable for its extremely low noise signature, enhancing the submarine’s survivability. According to Defense News, a South Korean Navy spokesperson noted that they are reviewing the report, which was produced by the Korea Defense Network over five months. “After thorough review, we’ll report it to the defense minister and...

Chinese companies were out in force at Defense & Security 2017 in Bangkok, including the China Shipbuilding and Offshore International Company (CSOC). Most prominent on its stand was a new family of submarines displacing 1,100t, 600t and 200t. Scale models of these submarines were displayed alongside a model of the 2,550t S26T (pictured above) currently being built for the Royal Thai Navy (RTN) under a $385 million order lodged in May. Perhaps the most interesting aspect was a video indicating countries currently interested in procuring Chinese submarines. In addition to Bangladesh and Pakistan that have already ordered Chinese platforms, those...

BERLIN (AP) — All of Germany's six submarines are out of action, and the country's defense minister isn't happy about it. The Kieler Nachrichten newspaper reports that four U-boats are being serviced in boatyards while two others are waiting for a berth. Asked how Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen views the temporary loss of the underwater fleet, her spokesman said Friday that "this is obviously not a good situation." Jens Flosdorff told reporters in Berlin that "we would hope the mission readiness was higher, but sometimes with technology the devil is in the detail."

A new report says that Israel asked Germany to extend the length of the submarines it planned on purchasing, spooking the Germans, who surmised that Israel wanted the submarines retrofitted to be compatible with nuclear missiles. The report, which was the result of an investigation between Ronan Bergman from Yediot Aharonot and the German Die Zeit newspaper, said that German Chancellor Angela Merkel opposed the request and even demanded the opinion of the German intelligence services, which eventually approved the request. Israel was not aware of the behind the scenes drama. Bergman wrote that the change to make the submarines...

Here’s a thought experiment: what if, suddenly, all the world’s submarines could no longer submerge? There they would be, on the surface of the ocean, slow, unwieldy, with no effective protection against attack. They’d be sitting ducks. Fanciful? Perhaps not. With a high probability, something very like this awaits the world’s submarines within the next couple of decades. Submarines are classic stealth predators. They have only one big trick — their invisibility — and they rely on it utterly to mount a successful attack. In that respect, they are no different from sabre-tooth tigers or trapdoor spiders. And like such...

Pictures have emerged in China of a new submarine-launched variant of the YJ-18 supersonic anti-ship missile. The pictures show two slides from a presentation given by a retired People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN or Chinese Navy) Rear Admiral at a Univertisty in August. Launch capsule of the YJ-18 submarine launched variant The first picture shows a launch capsule (the vehicle for the underwater part of the launch) which appears similar in shape and size to the Russian Kalibr capsule. The second image shows the missile breaking the surface during a test launch. While some open sources refer to the submarine...

Project 677 Lada-class diesel-electric attack submarines will lack air-independent propulsion systems (AIP) for the foreseeable future, the head of Russian-state owned Admiralty Shipyards, Alexander Buzakov, revealed in a recent interview with Russian media this month. Buzakov confirmed that the third and fourth boat of the class will operate without AIP. AIP vastly improves the underwater endurance of a submarine by allowing it to operate its propulsion system without access to atmospheric oxygen. Given that there is less need for AIP subs to surface or use a snorkel to charge their batteries, the stealth capability of any boat fitted with this...

The Indonesian Navy (Tentara Nasional Indonesia – Angkatan Laut) has commissioned its first attack submarine in over three decades this week. The first out of three ordered Type 209/1400 Chang Bogo-class (a license-built variant of the German Type 209 sub) diesel-electric attack submarine was handed over by South Korean defense contractor Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) on August 2. The new boat was subsequently inducted into the Indonesian Navy in a commission ceremony at the Okpo shipyard shipyard in Geoje Island, in the southeastern part of South Korea attended by senior Indonesian officials including Indonesian Minister of Defense Ryamizard Ryacudu on...

According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo said nuclear-powered submarines could be considered to counter the threat from North Korean submarines. South Korea Considering Nuclear-Powered Submarine for ROK Navy KSS-III Batch I is a 3000 tons SSK submarine project fitted with 6x VLS (vertical launch systems) Asked about the need to build nuclear-powered submarines in the face of the growing military threat from the North, Song said that the ministry is "ready to review" it. "To catch an enemy submarine, we should also have one," Song said in response to a question on what countermeasure the...

After nearly a decade, India says it will finally move ahead with plans to team up with a foreign contractor to build advanced diesel electric submarines. The announcement comes amid reports that despite ambitious plans to upgrade their equipment, each of the country’s eight front line Sindhughosh-class submarines have only one working periscope instead of two. On July 24, 2017, the Indian government reportedly declared it would begin considering offers from six different countries to pair up with an Indian shipyard to build a total of six advanced diesel-electric “stealth” submarines, according to The Times of India, which described the...

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Thyssenkrupp among bidders MUMBAI, JULY 19: Six advanced submarines, to be built under Project 75(I) to scale up the Navy’s warfare capabilities, are set to get off the starters’ block, with the Navy issuing a Request for Information (RFI) to six foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for the €8.3-billion submarine project. “The Indian Navy has issued an RFI asking competent companies that have independently designed and constructed a modern submarine, which is either currently in service or is undergoing sea trials,” confirmed officials who got the RFI, adding that “the L1 for P-75(I) will...

There are abundant lessons in India for the Australians negotiating the huge and complex $50 billion contract for the navy’s 12 new submarines. The Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) yard in Mumbai is halfway through a program to build six conventionally-powered Scorpene-class submarines in collaboration with the French shipbuilder Naval Group, which has just changed its name from DCNS. Against competition from Japan, Germany and, earlier on, Sweden, Naval Group won the contract to design and help build 12 very large Shortfin Barracuda submarines in Australia. The Shortfin is a conventionally-powered version of another Naval Group class, the nuclear-powered Barracuda...

Washington was rebuffed by the Australian government when it tried to convey strategic concerns about the $150 billion new submarine project, a former senior Pentagon official has revealed. Washington was “not able to have a serious alliance discussion” with the Turnbull government about the Americans’ preference for Japan to build the navy’s new submarines to strengthen Australia-US-Japan ties in the face of a rising China. In the first public comments by a senior Pentagon official at the time, Amy Searight has revealed hidden tensions between the Obama administration and the Australian government last year over the submarine project, which was...

Thailand's cabinet has approved the first of three planned submarine purchases from China worth $393 million, a government spokesman said on Monday. The plan to buy the three Chinese-built submarines worth 36 billion baht ($1.05 billion) was confirmed in July, signalling warming ties with the regional superpower since relations with the United States cooled after a May 2014 military coup. The first submarine purchase was approved last week. "The cabinet approved one submarine purchase on April 18," spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd told Reuters, adding that a budget of 13.5 billion baht ($393 million) has been earmarked for the Yuan Class S26T...