Russia and Japan recycle nuclear subs

the recycling of nuclear submarines. Photo: RIA Novosti

A Russian-Japanese project for recycling nuclear submarines has been completed in Russia’s far-eastern Maritime Region. Aimed at reducing the threat of ecological pollution and ensuring nuclear safety in the Pacific, the project was launched in 2006. Five submarines of the Russian Pacific Fleet have been recycled, four at the Zvezda plant in the town of Bolshoi Kamen and one at a Kamchatka plant. A floating platform to process liquid radioactive waste has been built in Russia and the first multi-purpose submarine of the Victor type has been scrapped under the project, which is part of an intergovernmental treaty on cooperation in disarmament.

Source ruvr.ru

Russia: Navy needs at least 50 nuke subs

The Russian navy needs at least 50 nuclear powered submarines to counter overseas threats, a top Russian navy officer says.

Though the navy has about 60 strategic, multifunctional and diesel-powered submarines that are combat ready, "The number of nuclear submarines in Russia's Navy should be no less than 40-50," First Deputy of the Naval General Staff Vice Adm. Oleg Burtsev said, RIA Novosti reported.

Burtsev said France, Britain and the United States have at least nine combat-ready nuclear subs at sea at all times. "In order to counterbalance them, we need to have two or three nuclear-powered submarines (ready at all times). They need to know that we are prepared to respond to any strike," he said.

UK Navy's nuke sub HMS Triumph ready for sea trials

HMS Triumph nuclear submarine of Royal Navy. A Royal Navy Photo

British Navy’s nuclear-powered submarine HMS Triumph is ready to set sail for sea trials after being refurbished for six years.

The vessel will undergo extensive sea trial for three months before being commissioned in the Royal Navy for a second time.

The submarine has been retrofitted at a cost of £300m ($455 million). Capability improvements include installation of latest sonar systems and an upgrade for the Tomahawk land attack cruise missile system.

The vessel has also been equipped with a new command and control system, a new internal fibre optic computer systems network and enhanced satellite communications system. Its safety features have also been enhanced further.

The seventh and last of the Trafalgar Class submarines of the Royal Navy, HMS Triumph was commissioned in October 1991.

Captain defends BAE Systems Barrow sub Astute 'faults' claim

THE CAPTAIN of Barrow’s newest nuclear submarine has defended his boat against claims it had ‘serious faults’ during sea trials and had worried the crew.

The £1.2bn submarine Astute left Barrow for Faslane naval base near Glasgow, Scotland, last November for sea trials.

It returned back to its Scottish base after nearly two weeks of trials.

But an article in the Scottish Daily Record at the weekend reported the sea trials had been “plagued by serious faults.”

One navy insider told the Scottish paper: “There have been problems with Astute. Every time engineers think they have solved one problem, another crops up. This has to be sorted out quickly.”

The paper said another Navy source told it: “The crew are worried about the problems.

“They must be fixed without cutting corners.”

However, Astute’s captain, Commander Andy Coles, has hit back at the claims.

Navy to get Russian nuke submarine before July

New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) The Indian Navy will get the Russian-built nuclear-powered Akula-II class attack submarine on a 10-year lease before July this year, a naval official said Monday.

The submarine, which would primarily be used to train crews to operate these kind of vessel, is considered one of the quietest and deadliest among Russian nuclear submarine fleet.

“The submarine is coming and it will arrive by mid-year before July,” a senior Indian Navy official said, requesting anonymity.

Partly financed by India under a deal signed with Russia in January 2004, the 12,000-tonne submarine was been built at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur shipyard in Russia. It will be commissioned into the Indian Navy as INS Chakra. 

According to experts, INS Chakra would help India fill the void caused by the delays in the indigenous Advanced Technology Vessel project to build a nuclear powered attack submarine capable of firing missiles. 

Three Indian navy teams have already been trained at the specially set up training centre in Sosnovy Bor near St. Petersburg. 

DARPA pushes submarine laser communications technology for ASW operations

communications experts at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., are asking industry to develop a blue-spectrum submarine laser communications system able to link submerged submarines with nearby aircraft for anti-submarine warfare (ASW).

 

  

The Los Angeles class fast-attack submarine USS Hartford (SSN 768)

DARPA issued a broad agency announcement Friday (DARPA-BAA-10-25) for the Tactical Relay Information Network (TRITON) research program to develop a blue-laser submarine communications system quickly enough to test during the U.S. Navy Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise in June 2012.

The submarine laser communications prototype must meet Technology Readiness Level 6 (TRL-6), should help DARPA scientists validate improvements in blue lasers, and must demonstrate this technology's ability to link submarines and aircraft while the submarines are submerged and underway.

The TRITON project is to build on technology DARPA developed in the 1990s under the Tactical Airborne Laser Communications (TALC), which tested blue-green laser communications to link submerged submarines with Navy P-3 maritime patrol aircraft. TALC matched a blue laser to a cesium atomic line resonance receiver at 455.6 microns; the downlink was a green diode-pumped laser compatible with existing submarine receivers at 532 microns.

Pearl Harbor to get new submarine

The Navy announced yesterday that a third new Virginia-class submarine, the USS North Carolina, will be home-ported in Hawaii, with the submarine expected to arrive next summer.

U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii, said in 2007 that the USS Hawaii, USS Texas and USS North Carolina would be based at Pearl Harbor.

USS North Carolina Photo : usmilitary.com

Wednesday's announcement by the Navy is its first official acknowledgment of the impending arrival of the North Carolina.

The state's namesake submarine, the USS Hawaii, arrived in July, and the Texas pulled into Pearl Harbor in November after heading up to the North Pole via the east coast and then transiting through the Panama Canal.

Strategic Submarines On Movie

The Top 10 Best Diesel-Electric Submarine in the World

 

Aboard the quietest submarine in the world

Goodrich to Supply Composite Components for Eight Virginia-Class Submarines

Goodrich Corporation (NYSE: GR) has received a $49 million contract from Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding to provide a number of composite components for the next eight Virginia Class nuclear fast attack submarines, collectively referred to as Block III.

 

Virginia Block III

Goodrich's Engineered Polymer Products team in Jacksonville, Fla. is building components to support the construction of one ship per year in 2009 and 2010, rising to two ships per year from 2011 through 2013. The components include the bow dome, and sonar and weapons equipment.

Ballistic Missile Submarine Movie

The modern nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine is one of the most complex, and without doubt the single most destructive machine man has ever created. Capable of remaining submersed and invisible for up to six months, then within minutes able to shower any landmass on the planet with multiple independently targetable thermonuclear warheads. Marrying a nearly undetectable launch platform and virtually unstoppable miniaturised warheads reentering the atmosphere at 12,000 mph, each submarine can deliver enough explosive force to destroy an entire continent.

Technology reviews and science news videos.

"Typhoon" Class Submarine 

The Typhoon class submarine is a type of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine deployed by the Soviet Navy in the 1980s. With a maximum displacement of 48,000 tonnes, Typhoons are the largest class of submarine ever built.

Technology reviews and science news videos.

Russia's Nerpa sub passes final trials

Russia's Nerpa nuclear attack submarine, damaged in a fatal accident during tests in November last year, has successfully passed final trials, a Pacific Fleet spokesman said on Monday.

 

On November 8, 2008, while the Nerpa was undergoing sea trials, its onboard fire suppression system activated, releasing a deadly gas into the sleeping quarters. Three crewmembers and 17 shipyard workers were killed. There were 208 people, 81 of them submariners, onboard the vessel at the time.

Following the repairs, which cost an estimated 1.9 billion rubles ($65 million), the submarine had been cleared for final sea trials.

Astute comissioning date put back

Astute Class on BAE System

THE commissioning date of Barrow’s newest submarine has been put back by three months to allow sea trials to continue.

Astute, which was delivered to the Faslane naval base in Scotland in November, was originally earmarked to be commissioned into the navy in a ceremony at Faslane at the end of January.

But a spokesman for the base said the commissioning date had “moved to the right considerably” and was now not expected to take place until April at the earliest. He said Astute - which technically still belongs to BAE Systems Submarine Solutions until the Ministry of Defence agrees to take it over - is getting on with sea trials.