Submarines: Underwater Game Changers

The United States builds, arguably, the world’s most capable submarines. But at about $2 billion apiece, there are only so many subs the US Navy will acquire, and it’s widely recognized the supply will never meet the demand.

Meanwhile, building and acquiring modern submarines is a worldwide growth industry. Russia, China and even India are designing and building multiple new classes of subs, armed and fit with a growing variety of weapons and sensors — and a number of nations are building or purchasing foreign-designed undersea craft.

Retired Vice Adm. Michael Connor, a former commander of the US Navy’s submarine forces, explained this activity in a recent hearing on Capitol Hill.

“The undersea arena is the most opaque of all warfighting domains,” Connor said during an Oct. 27 hearingat the House Seapower subcommittee. “It is easier to track a small object in space than it is to track a large submarine, with tremendous fire power under the water. That is why countries with the technical wherewithal to operate in this domain are pursuing advanced capability. The two countries that present the biggest challenge in the undersea are Russia and China, with Russia being the more capable of the two.”

Rather than simply building more submarines, Connor and others are urging more sustained development of weapons and sensors to increase the power of US undersea forces. Among Connor’s top recommendations is the desire to extend the striking range of submarine-launched weapons.

“This multiplies the impact of each submarine and multiplies the search challenge that each submarine presents to a potential foe,” he said.

Connor specifically wants torpedoes with ranges of more than 100 miles.

“This is definitely doable with chemical-based propulsion systems and will likely soon be achievable with battery systems,” he said. Such a range also will need better command-and-control systems, including the ability to communicate with the torpedo, perhaps via manned or unmanned aircraft or by satellite, he said.

“The torpedo will come to be considered along the line of a slow-moving missile,” he said, “with the advantage that it is more difficult to detect, carries a much larger explosive charge and strikes the enemy beneath the waterline, where the impact is most severe.”

Connor also wants the US “to get back into the business of submarine-launched anti-ship missiles” with the ability to “confidently attack a specific target at sea at a range of about 1,000 miles. We should be pursuing this more aggressively than we are.”

Connor also wants better and more-capable undersea vehicles.

“We need to improve the endurance of the vehicles, expand the payload set, and get to the point where any submarine can recover the mission data, if not the vehicle. We need to do this while keeping the cost of the vehicle down. The cost should be low enough such that, while we would always like to get the vehicles back, it is not a crisis if we don’t. The value is in the data, not the vehicle.”

Bryan Clark, a naval analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, appeared alongside Connor and urged greater development in undersea sensors — onboard submarines, unmanned vehicles and weapons, as well as deployed in the water and fixed on the seabed.

To coordinate the development and fielding of underwater systems, Clark said the Navy should “make its undersea warfare resource sponsor and acquisition organizations responsible for all undersea vehicles and systems once they transition out of research and development.”

Clark urged continued development in a wide range of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV), including looking at ways to arm some. He pointed to the compact, very lightweight torpedo — now under development — as having potential not only as a defensive, anti-torpedo weapon but also as a weapon that could be carried and launched by larger UUVs.

Connor and Clark said Congress could aid these efforts by providing funding not tied to specific programs of record. “Programs should be defined broadly so that they can incorporate innovation without recreating the program,” Connor said.

The failure of some efforts, he said, should not necessarily be taken as a negative thing. He said Silicon Valley failure rates sometimes approach 90 percent.

“If we are innovating aggressively enough, perhaps half of our initiatives will fail,” he said.

Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., chairman of the subcommittee, agreed with many of the recommendations.

“There’s a recognition that if we’re going to keep up with undersea dominance, it’s not just about creating more platforms, but we have to create relatively sophisticated systems of systems with the ability to multiply capability but not just adding a platform,” he said in a post-hearing interview.

“We can create a platform to last 20, 30, 40 years,” he said, noting that many systems will be developed over that time. “So it’s important to find the process or architecture to create innovation and put it out in three to four year cycles.

“What I’m excited about,” he said, “is we’ve got people in the Pentagon, the private sector and in policy sectors who understand this and can create partnerships to actually get them done.”

Russian Navy to standardize its warships and submarines

October 29, 2010 saw the launch of the Admiral Sergei Gorshkov class frigate, the lead ship of the Navy's Project 22350 class. This is the first large Russian surface warship designed and launched since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Russia's naval ship-building program is gradually gaining momentum. The keels of numerous warships and submarines have already been laid, and many other ships are in the design phase. Taken together, this gives us a peek into the future of the Russian Navy for the next 10, 15 and even 20 years. 

Launch of the Admiral Sergei Gorshkov class frigate

So, what will it look like?

Before I get to specific warships and submarines, I should note the current trend of naval development is completely different than the trend 30-35 years ago.

What we are seeing is maximum standardization in warship and submarine designs. They all begin with a few base platforms, and from there standard equipment is added depending on the function of the warship.

This same goes for the submarine fleet. The pressure hulls of new strategic ballistic-missile submarines and attack submarines are assembled using standardized sections.

The submarines have standard propulsion units, as well as similar sonars and radio-electronic equipment. Essentially, they differ only in terms of their main armament.

Strategic ballistic-missile submarines are equipped with silos which will house RSM-56 SS-NX-32 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), while attack submarines will feature multi-purpose launchers for various types of cruise missiles.

The warships currently being developed also use standardized propulsion units, launchers, radio-electronic equipment, etc.

The Soviet Union had realized the need for standardization by the early 1980s. At the time, its vast navy was a motley assortment of warships and submarines with limited production runs and drastically different armament and equipment.

This made it extremely difficult to service, repair and resupply warships and submarines and to train their crews. Standardized warships, which began to be developed in the 1980s, were expected to help overhaul the navy by the mid 1990s and early 2000s. However, these plans were not realized for obvious reasons.

Russia had inherited a scaled-down version of the Soviet navy, which was hard to service and even harder to adapt to meet new challenges. The government worked to upgrade the navy throughout the 2000s.

The submarine fleet is the backbone of the navy

Analysts and high-ranking Defense Ministry officials believe that the submarine fleet is still the backbone of the Russian Navy, and that it will continue to play this role in the future.

Most important are the strategic nuclear forces accounting for 700-750 out of the 1,500 strategic nuclear warheads, which Russia plans to keep until the late 2010s.

Barring experimental submarines and special-purpose submarines, which are traditionally veiled in secrecy, the Russian Navy will continue to receive two types of nuclear-powered submarines and two types of diesel-electric submarines in the next few years. The latter are more frequently called non-nuclear submarines featuring next-generation propulsion units.

Eight Project 955 Borei class ballistic-missile submarines will form the foundation of the navy's strategic nuclear forces. The first submarine is currently being tested, three more are under construction, and the keels of four other submarines are to be laid in the next five to six years.

The success of this project depends on the prompt completion of Bulava missile tests and the missile's subsequent adoption. This is a priority of the government. Hopefully, the various design problems will be solved soon.

In the next few decades, the navy will operate Project 885 Yasen (Graney class) attack submarines. The lead submarine, the Severodvinsk, was launched in the summer of 2010.

These heavily armed and extremely costly submarines are expected to replace 15 Project 671 Victor class, Project 945 Sierra I class and Project 949-A Oscar II submarines dating back to the Soviet period in the course of the next 15 years.

They are to replace the 12 aging Project 971 Akula class submarines after 2025.

One Project 885 submarine is currently being built. The keels of another six submarines are to be laid in the next six to seven years. In all, 10 to 12 Yasen submarines are to be constructed by 2025.

The expensive Project 885 submarines are frequently derided as a luxury in the media, and Moscow is encouraged to follow the example of the United States.

In effect, Washington has scrapped the ambitious SSN-21 Sea Wolf attack submarine program, designed as a response to the Soviet Akula class submarines, because of its prohibitive costs. Instead, the U.S. Navy has started building the much smaller Virginia class submarines.

Moscow clearly thinks that it would be too risky and expensive to design a new submarine now. Consequently, new Yasen submarines will be built, and operational ones upgraded.

The Russian Navy had problems developing the new Project 677 Lada diesel-electric submarines, whereas Project 877 Paltus (Kilo class) submarines continued to age rapidly. As a result, the Navy had to order upgraded Project 636-M (Kilo class) submarines once again. In August 2010, the keel of a lead Project 636-M submarine was laid for the Black Sea Fleet.

Over the next decade, the Navy will replace obsolete Paltus submarines with improved models, while continuing to upgrade the Lada submarine. The Navy is to operate four to five Ladas, as well as 9-12 upgraded and 5-6 obsolete Paltus submarines.

Renovating the warship fleet

The Russian Navy is in critical condition. Nowhere is this truer than in its warship fleet.

The Russian warship fleet has become obsolete and needs to be completely replaced because it did not receive even the meager replacements and allocations given to the submarine fleet in the past 20 years.

The Defense Ministry has shown a preference for the cautious but probably correct strategy of renovating the warship fleet from the bottom up. This involves the construction of small and relatively cheap warships, which will eventually be followed by larger, more sophisticated and expensive ships.

A Project 20380 Steregushchy class corvette is the first production warship to enter service with an overhauled Navy. The lead ship has already been commissioned. One more has been launched, and three more are under construction.

Moreover, construction has begun on ocean-going warships, namely, Project 22350 Admiral Sergei Gorshkov frigates.

These are the first post-Soviet capital warships. Once this ship-building program got underway, it became obvious that these sophisticated and expensive ships would delay the fleet's renovation.

Consequently, it was decided to expedite the process and to begin construction on the Project 11356 Talwar class frigates, which are on a par with the new warships. Russia has already built several such ships for the Indian Navy.

These frigates should have the same interchangeable components - including equipment and main weapons systems - as next-generation warships. Eight next-generation frigates, as well as the same number of Project 11356 warships, are to be commissioned in the next ten years.

The Russian Navy is to receive 30 frigates and 30 corvettes in the next 20 years.

Frigates will be followed by even larger warships. It is no secret that Russia has almost finished designing a next-generation destroyer, with a displacement of 10,000 metric tons. The new warship is to be equipped with standard launchers, a standard information-and-control system and other interchangeable equipment.

Corvettes, frigates and next-generation destroyers will form the backbone of the Navy's warship fleet in the next 20-30 years.

Without these new ships, it would be pointless to buy French-made Mistral class amphibious assault ships, to build them in Russia, to overhaul and refit the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier and to build other aircraft carriers.

The views expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

First Borey Submarine To Be Launched Soon

The Yury Dolgoruky, a 'fourth generation' (Project 955) Borey class nuclear missile submarine is expected to be launched this week at the Sevmash submarine shipyard in the northern Arkhangelsk Region. The new submarine is the first vessel expected to be equipped with the Bulava ballistic missile (the naval version of the SS-27 Topol M). 

The submarine will undergo sea trials in 2007 and is scheduled to be fully equipped with weaponry in 2008. However, due to the continued problems encountered with the development of the Bulava M missile, the validity of this timetable is now questionable. Despite these setbacks, Russia is determined to pursue with the Bulava program. President Vladimir Putin was quoted that Russia's submarine fleet, particularly the fourth-generation submarines armed with Bulava missiles, would form the core of an entire fleet of modern submarines.

According to the Novosti RIA news agency, the submarine has a length of 170 meters (580 feet), a body diameter around 13 meters (42 feet), and a submerged speed of about 29 knots. It can carry up to 16 ballistic missiles. Two other Borey-class nuclear submarines, the Alexander Nevsky and the Vladimir Monomakh, are currently under construction at the Sevmash plant, with a fourth submarine on the future production schedule list. 

Some Borey Class Snaps: