Sea Dagger Special Operations Submarines, Sweden

The Sea Dagger series of submarines are special operations vehicles developed by Kockums of Malmo, Sweden, now owned by HDW of Germany. The small stealthy submarines are tailored for five types of missions: attack; autonomous swimmer delivery; surveillance and minehunting; and as a target vehicle for antisubmarine warfare exercises and training.

 

The Sea Dagger variants are constructed from three modules, the bow and stern modules and one chosen from four specific mission module options. The submarines are small, with displacement in the range of 55t to 72t, a length of between 16 and 20m, a height of 3.6m and a diameter of 2.5m.

The four variants of Sea Dagger are equipped with sonar, communications systems, and a comprehensive navigation suite including a navigation computer, a gyroscope compass, speed log, depth gauge, echo sounder, global positioning system, navigation radar and optronic mast.

The concept consists of six modules: one and two the bow and stern, with the remaining four specific mission modules.

Russia to help Ukraine maintain sole submarine

Russia will help Ukraine to ensure the technical maintenance of the Zaporozhye submarine, the only one Ukraine has, a top Russian Navy official has said.

Ukraine's only submarine

"We are stepping up our work. We received an application of our Ukrainian partners on the technical maintenance of the submarine, which they repaired and which is going to be put to use," Vice Admiral Oleg Burtsev, first deputy chief of the staff of the Russian Navy, said here yesterday.

Relations between the Russian and Ukrainian Navies "are becoming reasonable and humane," he said.

The Zaporozhye diesel electric submarine is the only submarine possessed by the Ukrainian Navy.

It was built in 1972 under Project No. 641 (Foxtrot, under the NATO classification). Its surface speed is 16.4 knots, and the submerged speed is 16 knots. The length of the hull is 91 metres.

source : ptinews.com

Germany Now World's Third Largest Arms Exporter

Germany has become the world's third largest arms exporter, with many of its weapons, including this submarine, earmarked for Greece.

German arms exports more than doubled during the last five years, according to a new report, placing the country behind just the US and Russia on the list of the world's largest weaponry exporters. The opposition in Berlin wants more oversight.

When it comes to arms exports, few will be surprised that the US tops the list, with 30 percent of global expenditures on arms going to weaponry from America. Second place is likewise hardly a shocker -- 23 percent of the world's weapons originate in Russia.

Third place, though, is raising more eyebrows. According to the 2009 annual report put together by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Germany's weapons exports have more than doubled in the last five years, to 11 percent of the global total. German submarines and tanks, the report makes clear, have gained a number of loyal customers.

Given Berlin's tentative forays into geopolitics in recent years -- against a backdrop of deep domestic skepticism about German involvement in conflicts across the globe -- it is perhaps not surprising that the opposition is up in arms at the SIPRI ranking.

Indeed, the Greens are now demanding greater parliamentary oversight for arms exports. "This report shows that we need more stringent control over and sharper criteria governing arms exports," Green leader Claudia Roth told the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. Parliament must finally get the right to monitor the government's weapons exports, she continued, adding that such control was commonplace elsewhere.

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.