The Barracuda development programme was initiated by the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) in 1998.
Astute submarines are the first nuclear submarines to be designed entirely in a three-dimensional, computer-aided environment. As part of the conversion, the submarines have been refitted with up to 154 Tomahawk TLAM or Tactical Tomahawk missiles and are capable of conducting special operations missions. That is a force of escorts back to 1995 Front Line First levels.
Nuclear submarines have to keep the ‘feed pump’ running; it is one of the major headaches when it comes to design them. I would think that an Astute wouldn’t be with the task group so to speak, but ranging someway ahead and using its sophisticated sensor suite to search for target’s. One on one were beatable, 28 to 1 no chance…. A truly fearsome predator of the deep and a superb World leading SSN. 2 turboreductors groups (10 MW propulsion alternator feeding electric engines) That made him difficult to work with,crude, abrasive, and short tempered. Delays in the Suffren’s completion were related to difficulties miniaturizing of the 150-megawatt K15 nuclear reactor, adapted from a type used on the larger Triomphant-class ballistic missile submarine. This is reflected in reality, US kit is bigger/more capable than ours, as well as… Read more ». We put them head-to-head in the ring on factors like size, speed, armament, technology and cost. The manufacturer say that no other attack submarine is as technologically advanced. Too many people, not enough land or knowhow to produce enough food of our own.
Great list John – but the chances of it becoming reality are somewhere between Nil and Zero id say ! Question: if the French can offer a modified Barracuda submarine to Australia with diesel propulsion could not BAE do the same to the Astute class? For these roles, the ability to detect and engage enemy submarines, without being detected in return are paramount. Australia is also set to receive a smaller 4,000-ton diesel-electric variant of the Barracuda, called the Shortfin Barracuda or Attack-class, although disputes over tech-transfers leave the program’s future somewhat uncertain. If we are going AIP or SSKs then a compact small 800-1000 ton BMT design would suffice. This would all be possible over the 20 years if the budget was increased to 2.5%. Another example of their area access denial tactic. AFAIK, Barracuda only has 4 torpedo tubes & … Agree guys, I wish we could build even 1 more Astute, and/or a few diesel electric submarines to bulk or numbers up, perhaps based on the Astutes to save money, we could probably win some exports with them too. A couple of armoured brigades ain’t going to help… Read more », The lesson of the 20th Century, which is not dissimilar to the lessons of previous centuries, is that wars are decided on land, and if you want to have influence in how an alliance operates, you have to make a significant land contribution. But as rule it would be very difficult to do what you suggest.
They could have bid on the Australian project but it was not a proven design.
The French have just won the Auzzie deal to supply Barracudas. If not, it is another case of designing world beating kit that somehow doesn’t seem to interest other countries and we need to get more savy. In the words of BAE, the Astute class is “designed and engineered to be the stealthiest submarine of her type, equipped with the latest and most powerful sonar suite and secure communications facilities, while exhibiting a low noise signature and optimum detection avoidance characteristics”. At one point, Canada was interested in buying Trafalgar type submarines. Four submarines of the Arihant class are planned with the commissioning of vessels scheduled from 2016 to 2023.
Most officers and politicians lived in fear of him. They carry the same TLAM loadout as the Block IIIs which have two payload tubes which replace the 12 VLS tubes on earlier boats. It could add a great deal of firepower to the sub fleet with all those extra VLS cells…. Even that probably too much to hope for.
it is truly a magnificent piece of engineering – sadly nobody will ever get to see or appreciate it close up when you sell to other countries, you proliferate your technology, some of it will have been caught up by the commercial world anyway and it doesn’t matter… Read more ». When operating as part of a task group, does the Astute need to match surface vessel speeds, or do they offer regional support but at a slower speed?
That keeps availability rates up, as well as morale of crew and family.
The US Navy opted to install several commercial-off-the-shelf components aboard the Virginia Class submarines, which, coupled with improvements in manufacturing technologies, resulted in savings of approximately $1.8bn per submarine over the expensive Seawolf Class vessels.
The list I came up with is simply restoring force levels to a minimum point, to allow the country to defend itself robustly and independently. Astute class submarines are designed not to require refuelling throughout her projected 25-year life.
What ships will make up the new British Carrier Strike Group? It’s what we could and should have if we get an uplift in budget. Bear in mind ASW has more layers than just submarines.
I assume that 4 are used to continuously protect the ND, leaving 3 for global deployment. I saw a documentary yesterday on the Astute on BBC2. Militaries of the World and their Ships, Histories and Weapons. There’s lots of interesting stuff in that article but one thing really caught my eye – “an SSN normally deploys 14 times during its 33-year lifespan”. more than 6 months, which would increase that percentage? Lockheed Martin is also developing a mast-mounted AN/BLQ-10 electronic support measure for the US Navy’s Virginia-class submarines. The first submarine for the Royal Navy was built in Barrow, and every submarine currently in service was also built there, Holland 1. The UK in WW1 could not have… Read more », Thanks Alf, really good points. This is a strength that we have such strong and effective allies. Was there ever a specific reasoning for 7 ?
Agree.
That’s just a very rough rule of thumb. The Suffren’s captain can also spy on the surface using a non-hull penetrating optronic mast that can snap panoramic views of the surface with brief exposure, instead of a traditional periscope. If it was possible to life-extend them any further then I suspect HMG would have jumped at that option to keep them in the CASD role, kick the can down the road on Successor and we wouldn’t be into the Dreadnought program yet. Four more submarines, namely the Knyaz Oleg, Generalissimus Suvorov, Imperator Aleksandr III and the Knyaz Pozharskiy, are currently under construction, with a further two vessels planned. Just three Borei-Class submarines have so far been commissioned, with the fourth submarine to join the Russian Navy in the second half of 2019. It’s not clear whether the Spearfish 54km range is at 80 knots or if it’s variable like the Mk48 spec but Spearfish is… Read more », Data on both torpedoes is highly classified. Plus the scandalous way HMG have delayed the Astute programme has increased costs significantly.
These are utterly deadly vessels. But hunter killers don’t work in multiples so it’s in no way relevant how much better an Asute is to previous generation of hunterkillers, you still need the same number. No chance Hellions. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2018/05/12/future-attack-sub-rickover-hits-milestone-as-us-navy-churns-through-virginia-block-iv/. If you include tons of micro, small, medium, and large drone ships and submarines that is. The 21.6% ratio is correct but I should have said 14 x 6 months (not 7 as written – that is the number of years deployed). "France orders six 'Barracuda' class nuclear-driven submarines". Or would it be possible to eke out some extra years by whatever means eg lower usage rate? Just wish we had… Read more ». The Astute class has a complement of 98, but 147 are assigned per boat, so 1/3 of the crew are at home while the boat is on patrol, with a new 1/3 rotating out upon return. That ratio on our fleet of 7 would give 1.54 subs deployed at any given time, i.e. 10-week patrol the 98-strong crew of a Astute will get through (on average): 18,000 sausages and 4,200 Weetabix for breakfast. Did we not enter?
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Our SSNs/SSBNS, including Astute and more demonstrably Dreadnought, still depend to a large extent on US technological transfer in power plant and noise deadening technology. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. It would be nice to be able to build one or two more.
Helicopter Refuelling Systems, In-flight Refuelling and Fuel Filtration for the Naval Sector, Avionics Subsystems for Defence Applications, Integrated Navigation Systems for High-Speed Vessels, 15 April 2019 (Last Updated January 23rd, 2020 14:14). The Astute class, Britain’s advanced hunter killer, Social Media and Comment Moderation Policy. INS Arihant completed its first deterrent patrol in November 2018. Seems very impressive, and an incredible engineering challenge. The Royal Navy’s Astute-class of submarines is currently the tenth-biggest submarine class in the world, with a surfaced displacement of 7,000t to7,400t, and a submerged displacement of 7,400t to 7,800t. Browse over 50,000 other reports on our store. This gives a considerable operational advantage to the RN.