Singapore's Super Subs
November 7, 2005: Singapore will buy 2 Swedish A-17 Vastergotland
submarines, which are expected to enter service starting in 2010,
replacing some of current Challenger-class submarines. This fits
into Singapore's traditional method of acquiring new capabilities,
where old refurbished platforms are first purchased to gain
operational experience before newer weapons systems are
acquired.
In 1995, Singapore purchased 4 A-11 Challenger Class (ex-Sjöbjörnen
Class), the first of which was launched in 1968. The Challenger
Class were not only refitted for tropical conditions, but also
received weapons system and sensor upgrades. These submarines
performed very well in exercises against US Navy and Royal
Australian Navy units, proving that these old boats, when handled
well in littoral conditions, are quiet and maneuverable subs that
are able to give a pretty good account of themselves.
Of the 4 submarines in the Vastergotland class that Sweden built
between 1987 and 1990, the first two boats, the HMS HMS
Vastergotland and HMS Halsingland were taken out of Royal Swedish
Navy active service in 2004, while the other two, the HMS
Sodermanland and HMS Ostergotland, received such significant
upgrades in 2003-2004 that they are considered a new class.
In particular, apart from weapons system and stealth system
improvements, these boats received a 12 metre (36 foot) hull
extension in order to use the Stirling Air Independent Propulsion
System, making them, along with the 3 submarines of the follow on
A-19 Gotland Class, probably the quietest and most advanced
conventional submarines currently in operational service the world.
The Stirling AIP system is a propulsion system that uses diesel
fuel and Liquid Oxygen in a closed system, and greatly increases a
conventional submarine's submerged endurance. With AIP systems,
conventional submarines can go for weeks without having to surface
or snorkel in order to recharge their batteries.
Singapore has purchased the deactivated HMS Vastergotland and HMS
Halsingland, and it is more than likely that part of the upgrades
that these boats will receive will include the Stirling AIP hull
extension, making them virtually identical to the Sodermanland
Class. This means that by 2010, the RSN will be operating two of
the quietest and most lethal conventional submarines in the world,
and probably at a pretty good price - definitely below the cost of
a new Gotland sub, which has been suggested at $100 million each,
while the German U-212 Class has been estimated at $250 million a
copy.
Just how lethal will these subs be? Well, take into consideration
that the state-of-the-art Gotland Class, which is essentially an
improved Vastergotland Class with the Stirling AIP system
incorporated from the beginning, is considered so quiet and so
deadly that the USN has leased the HMS Gotland for a year in order
to practice and develop its ASW tactics against a first class
opponent.
from Strategy Page
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htsub/articles/20051107.aspx
