Russia Launches Upgraded Submarine Missile Cruiser

The Russian Zvezdochka Shipbuilder has launched the K-407 Novomoskovsk, strategic submarine missile cruiser after an interim overhaul and modernisation programme.

Novomoskovsk is the last strategic nuclear submarine to undergo modernisation at the shipyard, and is to be delivered to the Russian Navy.

The vessel is the sixth missile submarine of Project 667BDRM (Delfin Class, Delta-4 by Nato classification), whose service life has been extended by ten years after the overhaul.

The Delfin Class submarines are armed with 16 intercontinental ballistic missiles and form the basis of the Russian sea-based strategic nuclear forces, according to ITAR-TASS News Agency.

The submarines that have undergone similar modernisation include K-51 Verkhoturye, K-84 Yekaterinburg, K-114 Tula, K-117 Bryansk and K-18 Karelia. (Source naval-technology)

NGV Tech wins work with Daewoo shipbuilder

Malaysian shipbuilder NGV Tech has signed a contract with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering to construct two 250-foot training and patrol vessels for the Malaysian navy. 

"In the period of 24 months, we will collaborate to design, build and deliver the naval vessels," NGV Tech Executive Chairman Datuk Zulkifli Shariff said.

"DSME will do the design. The vessel blocks will be transported to Malaysia and we will start joining it together at our 24-hectare shipyard in Sijangkang," Shariff said.

NGV Tech was founded in 1992 and is based in the city of Telok Panglima Garang, in the state of Selangor on the west coast of the Malaysian peninsula. Sijangkang is on the coast of Selangor.

The company offers design, fabrication, installation as well as repair and maintenance services for all type of ships including buoy tender vessels, offshore crew boats, patrol craft, landing craft, harbor tugs, hydro-graphic craft and strike craft.

NGV Tech builds around 40 ships annually in Sijangkang, generating around $160 million in revenues, a statement from NGV Tech said.

HMS Ambush: latest of Royal Navy's next generation of submarines

HMS Ambush, the second of the Royal Navy's new Astute class of nuclear submarines, is powered by a nuclear reactor the size of a dustbin.

HMS Astute  Photo: REUTERS

It is 97m long, the equivalent of 10 London buses, and weighs 7,400 tonnes compared with the 5,000 tonnes managed by its predecessor, the Trafalgar class. 

It has the biggest "ears'' of any sonar system in service today, with the processing power of 2,000 laptops. 

The nuclear reactor which drives the propulsion system is roughly the size of a dustbin but will last the 30-year life of the boat without needing to be replaced. 

But there are some other big numbers to bear in mind - the first three Astute class submarines (HMS Astute, Ambush and Artful) cost the Government £3.8bn, according to last year's National Audit Office report, compared with an initial contract for £2.58bn. 

That report also showed the project was 47 months late, with an original in-service date for Astute of May 2005.(source telegraph.co.uk)

Indian Navy to Install AIP System on Scorpene Submarines

The Indian Navy is considering a proposal to equip Scorpene submarines, which are under construction, with an air independent propulsion (AIP) system to overcome the risk of detection.

The system, which is being built at Mazagon Dock, enables the boats to stay underwater without having to surface for more than three weeks.

DCNS CEO Patrick Boissier said the company was in talks with the navy and that the system could be integrated into the fifth and sixth submarines in 2018.

The navy is also looking at an indigenous AIP system, which is being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, according to Hindustan Times.

The first Scorpene submarine is expected to enter service in 2015 and the remaining within a span of three years.

India is constructing six Scorpene submarines with transfer of technology from DCNS under a Rs187.98bn ($4.16bn) programme called Project 75. (Source naval-technology)

Submarines to receive new batteries

South Africa's fleet of three Heroine-class Type 209 diesel-electric attack submarines are to receive new batteries as part of their “first minor overhaul”, the Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans says in two answers to Parliamentary questions.

The battery consists of 480 man-sized cells and weighs 250 metric tons, according to a South African Navy briefing to Parliament last month. Navy Chief Director Maritime Strategy Rear Admiral Bernhard Teuteberg at the same briefing said a battery costs R35 million. He also described the overhaul as "major". 

“In order to ensure that the SAS Manthatisi (S101) will be operational for a period of at least eight years on completion of the first minor overhaul, the SA Navy will procure a new battery for the submarine,” the ministry says in answer to a Parliamentary question by Freedom Front Plus MP Pieter Groenewald. “Each submarine will, in turn, be fitted with a new battery on completion of their respective minor overhauls.”

Another answer notes the Manthatisi is “presently in reserve, and has been so since October 2007. The submarine is being prepared to become the first Type 209 Submarine to be overhauled in Simon’s Town Naval Dockyard,” the answer continues. “The SAS Manthatisi will be undergoing an overhaul in accordance with the laid down schedules for this type of submarine. The scope of work for the overhaul of SAS Manthatisi is currently being determined.”

The Manthatisi is the lead-boat of class of three submarines acquired for R8.1 billion as part of Project Wills,a component of the controversial Strategic Defence Package. She was laid down at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, Thyssen Nordsee Werke, Kiel on May 22, 2001, was launched June 15, 2004 and commissioned November 3, 2005. It arrived in South African waters in April 2006. Her sisters were both commissioned March 14, 2007. The Charlotte Maxeke arrived in South African waters in April 2007 and SAS Queen Modjadji I in May 2008.

In answer to Groenewald's question as to whether the repairs might be done in Germany, where they had been built, the ministry said the Navy was “not giving consideration to sending the submarine to Germany for repairs. The requisite capabilities are being sourced and developed locally, and these capabilities will form the foundation for not only the maintenance of SAS Manthatisi but also the subsequent overhaul of SAS Charlotte Maxeke and SAS Queen Modjadji I, as scheduled in the SA Navy Maintenance and Upkeep Plan for the Medium to Long Term Expenditure Framework.”

Russia delays Bulava nuclear missile test to 2011

Russia has delayed the next submarine test launch of its troubled intercontinental nuclear missile Bulava until 2011, Itar-Tass state news agency reported.

Russia has delayed the next submarine test launch of its troubled intercontinental nuclear missile Bulava until 2011, Itar-Tass state news agency reported on Wednesday.

The Bulava missile, which Moscow plans to make the cornerstone of its nuclear arsenal over the next decade, has failed seven of its previous 14 tests, endangering the future of the project which is estimated to cost at least $3 billion.

The next test had been scheduled for Dec. 17.

"The White Sea region, from where the Bulava was to be launched, is covered with ice," Itar-Tass quoted an unidentified defence industry source, who had been due to attend the test launch, as saying.

"The exact date of the next test launch of the Bulava in 2011 is not yet decided, but it will take place in the first half of the year," he said.

Test launches have sent the nearly 37-tonne missile from Russia's border with Finland to the peninsula of Kamchatka, in Russia's Far East.

Testing of a New Submarine to Start

“Alexander Nevsky” submarine has been launched at a plant in Severodvinsk. The vehicle is ready for final tests.
     
      The missile-carrying nuclear submarine “Alexander Nevsky” belongs to the newest generation of Russian submarines of the “Boreas” project. The vehicle will carry 16 “Bulava” ballistic missiles, as well as torpedoes for self-protecting.
     
      The submarine creators, who used cutting-edge technologies for building the submarine, believe that their vehicle would pass all tests successfully. Seven more missile-carrying nuclear submarines are 4expected to appear within the “Boreas” project. 

(Source : RIA Novosti)

Watch videos about “Aleksander Nevsky” on RIA Novosti

The nuclear submarine Aleksander Nevsky (Photo from RIA Novosti)

Russia plans to build eight subs of the Borey class. The first one, “Yury Dolgoruky”, has already gone through tests and is currently preparing for launch of its first Bulava missile. The third sub in the series, “Vladimir Monomakh” is under construction. The fourth, “Svyatitel Nikolay”, has also been started, but will be modernized and constructed under new modification compared to the three others.

UK to launch its biggest, deadliest nuclear submarine

A nuclear reactor which can power a small city and guided-missiles that can pulverise an enemy more than 1,000 miles away -- meet HMS Ambush, the Royal Navy's newest killer submarine. 

The 'super-sub' can produce oxygen and drinking water from seawater to keep its 98 crew members alive in time of crisis. 

More complex than the US space shuttles and able to circumnavigate the globe without surfacing, Ambush is 291 ft long, the same length as a football pitch, as wide as four double-decker buses and 12 storeys high.

Its nuclear-powered engine can propel her at more than 20 knots, allowing her to travel 500 miles a day, reports the Daily Mail. 

And despite being 50 percent bigger than the Swiftsure and Trafalgar subs it will replace, Ambush is much quieter. Its propellers are the quietest ones, making less noise than a baby dolphin and undetectable to enemy vessels. 

Of course, that is if enemy vessels can get near Ambush. The submarine's sonar and radar are so sensitive that it can detect ships a staggering 3,000 nautical miles away. 

It means that if parked in the English Channel, Ambush would know if a ship left the New York harbour. A true titan of the deep, the 1.2-billion-pound warship will be launched at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria Thursday. 

Emergency Surface (Submarine)

Submarine diving (view from periscope)

Old HMS Ambush

HMS Ambush P-418 seen in 1947.

HMS Ambush P-418 underway in 1947.

 

HMS Ambush S-68 seen in 1961 after modernization

Putin pledges $860b to modernise military

Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said today that the government had pledged $860 billion through 2020 to modernise and re-arm Russia's military.
   
Russia's armed forces have demanded an increase in spending to modernise ageing infrastructure and weapons systems after years of insufficient funding, which undermined performance in local conflicts after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
   
"We are allocating very serious, significant funds for the rearmament programme. I am even scared to pronounce this figure, 20 trillion roubles," Putin told government ministers and top military officers.
   
"We need to finally overcome consequences of those years when army and navy were seriously underfinanced," Putin said at the navy shipyard SevMash in the northern town of Severodvinsk on the White Sea.
  
Putin said the modernisation programme will focus on strategic nuclear forces, air-defence systems, communication, intelligence, a fifth generation fighter plane and on the navy, which would receive about 4.7 trillion roubles.
   
Russia has been struggling for years to reform its armed forces, dogged by low morale and poor living conditions since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. 

While Russia crushed Georgia in a five-day war in 2008, the short conflict exposed technical problems and ageing equipment.
  

Putin also launched the dock trial of Russia's second Borei class nuclear submarine, the Alexander Nevsky, designed to carry Russia's Bulava intercontinental missile.
   
Russia is completing the construction of three Borei-class nuclear submarines.
   
The first one, Yuri Dolgorikiy, is already undergoing sea trials, and is expected to go into service in the first half of 2011, said Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov. 

New Russian submarine to be commissioned in 2011

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Monday congratulated the dock trials of the Alexander Nevsky nuclear submarine in northern region of Severodvinsk, saying the submarine is due to enter service in Dec. 2011, Xinhua informed.

Alexander Reznikov, a new strategic missile-carrying submarine of the Borei class, is currently under construction at the Sevmash shipyard.

"The nuclear submarine is due to be handed over to the navy in 2011 if work goes at the set pace," Putin was quoted by local media as saying.

"It is precisely that this modern, quality equipment must be supplied to all our Armed Forces in the nearest future," he said.

In addition, Putin also told a meeting in Severodvinsk that Russian Armed Forces will receive over 1,300 types of weaponry in line with a draft arms procurement program until 2020.

"We will need to set up new or expand the existing production lines to manufacture 220 of the new types of weaponry," Putin was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency.

More than 20 trillion rubles (640.7 billion U.S. dollars) will be earmarked for weapons procurement, three times more than the sum allocated in the existing 2007-2015 program, he added.

Lockheed Martin to upgrade RMS minehunting underwater vehicle capability and reliability

Engineers at Lockheed Martin Corp. will upgrade the capability, reliability, and maintainability of the U.S. Navy's AN/WLD-1 Remote Minehunting System (RMS) -- a 23-foot-long semiautonomous, semisubmersible diesel-powered submarine that locates and classifies undersea anti-ship mines -- under terms of a $20 million contract awarded Friday from the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington.

The RMS, an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) designed to help safeguard military and commercial shipping from hidden underwater mines, often requires frequent repair or replacement, Navy officials say. This can be a problem when operating from the Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, which can accommodate only one of the RMS vehicles.

Although the Navy is designing the Littoral Combat Ship to accommodate two RMS vehicles to provide sufficient redundancy for the maintenance-heavy minehunting UUV, the RMS also has been found to have a difficult time reliably detecting and classifying mines in shallow waters with rough sea floors, Navy officials say.

As a result, the Lockheed Martin Undersea Systems division in Riviera Beach, Fla. -- the RMS designer and manufacturer -- is taking on the RMS Reliability Growth Program to upgrade the minehunting system's reliability and capability. Lockheed Martin will do the work at its Riviera Beach, Fla., and Syracuse, N.Y., facilities.

Japan Could Deploy Troops in Korea in Emergency

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan raised hackles in Korea on Saturday by saying Tokyo will consider dispatching troops there to rescue Japanese citizens in case of an emergency. Kan told reporters his government will consult on the matter with the South Korean government and revise Japanese laws to allow the country's Self-Defense Force to engage in such rescue operations.

The daily Tokyo Shimbun reported on Sunday that the Japanese government already sounded out to the Korean government the possibility of dispatching SDF transport aircraft and vessels to Seoul, Incheon and Busan to rescue around 28,000 Japanese citizens residing in Korea. 

U.S. warships led by the nuclear-powered attack submarine Houston sail the Pacific Ocean south of Japan on Friday.

 But the daily said the Korean government rejected the proposal citing a potential public outrage among Koreans who may be reminded of the forced occupation of their country by the Japanese imperial military from 1910 to 1945. Seoul was also reportedly concerned that the consultation itself could give the impression that a war is imminent.

But Seoul denied knowledge of the plan. "Japan neither raised the issue nor discussed it with us," a Cheong Wa Dae official said. "We don't know in what context Kan made the comments."

Submarine defense systems that protect against torpedo attacks to be provided by Sedna Digital Solutions

Submarine electronics experts at Sedna Digital Solutions LLC in Manassas, Va., will provide the U.S. Navy with submarine defensive warfare systems that enable U.S. ballistic missile and fast attack submarines to respond automatically to torpedo attacks under terms of a $14.3 million contract announced last week by Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington.

Sedna Digital Solutions will provide the Navy with AN/WLY-1 acoustic interception and acoustic countermeasures systems for U.S. submarines. The AN/WLY-1 has threat platform sonar- and torpedo-recognition capability for early detection, classification, and tracking of torpedo threats to Navy submarines.

This submarine defensive warfare system , which allows radius of curvature and multipath ranging, also has a control subsystem for launch management of all onboard countermeasure devices and launchers.

Nuclear powered submarines in the Brazilian market

Navy forces in Brazil are making huge plans to introduce new nuclear powered submarines. They are planning to purchase 20 conventional submarines and 6 nuclear powered submarines.

The development of first nuclear powered submarine involves expensive research and development so, Brazilian navy has projected a cost of 2 billion Euros in the construction of first nuclear powered submarine for which funds will be paid to the French DCNS shipyard.

As per an agreement signed last year for the production of submarines, France and Brazil will work in the joint collaboration. They have decided to build 15 new submarines while 5 will be renovated. 

Brazil is trying to develop its defense outlay to claim its control on the continent for which protests have been made for permanent membership of the U. N. Security Council. Rival countries have noticed Brazilian’s massive expansion of naval forces against which they have already taken few steps like Argentina has decide to restore its nuclear development program this month. 

WWII Japanese sub PIC

This photo shows the two-man Japanese submarine that was discovered grounded in Hawaii the day after the Pearl Harbor attack of Dec. 7, 1941. The photo in front of City Hall was taken Dec. 14, 1942, during a War Bond sales drive.(source pasadenastarnews)

 A midget Japanese submarine beached in Hawaii after the attack on Pearl Harbor of Dec. 7, 1941.

 Battered Japanese midget submarine believed to be M-14, raised from the floor of Sydney Harbour on 1st June 1942.

Iran builds unmanned radio-controlled submarine

An Iranian scientist has built unmanned radio-controlled submarine with the ability of information exchange five meters under water. 

“The submarine is in the initial phase of construction and it will be turned into a smart one in the second phase,” said the project director, Reza Mohammadi. 

A camera can be installed in front of the submarine, transferring images. The camera can send pictures out from water if connected online.

The submarine can also go down under water by five meters with the speed of two meter per second. 

The project manager continued that the submarine is armed with a “balance tank” which prevents additional movements underwater. 

Stranded sub’s sea trials breakdown

 

HMS Astute had to head back to its base in Faslane after what officials described as a 'minor defect'

A nuclear-powered submarine which ran aground two months ago broke down on its first day back at sea, it has emerged.

HMS Astute had to head back to its base in Faslane, Scotland, last week after what officials described as a “minor defect”.

Experts identified a fault in the steam plant, which affected the propulsion and desalination system that makes sea water drinkable, the Mail on Sunday said.

It is hoped the vessel will be back in service this week.

HMS Astute became stuck off the coast of Skye in October and ended up marooned for several hours – an error that eventually cost its captain, Cmdr Andy Coles, his command.

Cmdr Coles was replaced by Cmdr Iain Breckenridge.