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| Why is the U.S. Navy Leasing a Swedish Submarine? |
| 2005-05-02 |
| It has been more than a decade since the U.S. Navy has needed to prepare for undersea warfare against a capable submarine force. Since the Soviet collapse some 15 years ago, the chief undersea threat shifted to diesel-electric submarines operated by rogue states such as Iran and North Korea. These boats were of limited range and were relatively easy to track due to the need to regularly approach the surface to snorkel for air to run the diesel engines to recharge the propulsion motor batteries. The advent of Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) has changed the equation. AIP allows these submarines to run their diesel engines submerged using stored oxygen in a closed cycle. Another form of AIP permits the submarine to operate its electric motors on energy produced by fuel cells. On October 28, 2004 the Swedish government accepted a U.S. Navy proposal to lease an AIP-equiped submarine and its crew of 25 for anti-submarine warfare training, which will begin the early part of this year. The AIP-equipped Gotland-class submarine, one of five in Swedish service, will be stationed at the United States Naval Base at Point Loma in San Diego, and will be involved in training exercises in both the Pacific and Atlantic. Officials expect the information gained in the training operations to enhance American sonar technology and to lead to the establishment of a solid bank of operational experience versus AIP-equipped subs. Rear Admiral Donald Bullard, Director of Readiness and Training for Fleet Forces Command, said, "This will vastly improve our capability to conduct realistic, effective antisubmarine warfare (ASW) training [and further]... our efforts in developing coalition ASW tactics, techniques and procedures." The U.S. Navy is concerned that "rogue" states and terrorist organizations will acquire this capability because it is far less expensive to build and operate diesel-electric submarines with the AIP system than nuclear submarines. Countries that operate AIP-equipped submarines include Sweden, Germany, Greece, Italy, Pakistan, and Russia. The Spanish Navy has funded a three-part process of researching and developing AIP systems for its new S-80 submarines, four of which are scheduled to be commissioned between 2005 and 2014. These submarines are expected to cost some $650 million each. Over the past decade, the U.S. Navy has experienced a marked decrease in ASW training missions including those in shallow, crowded waters. It is in these "littoral" waters where the threat was most clearly manifested. The Straits of Hormuz, crowded with supertankers, thousands of smaller craft, shallow waters, reefs and wrecks, is the chokepoint a hostile navy could easily block, cutting the flow of oil dramatically. The tight and the underwater noise generated by the immense traffic severely diminish the effectiveness of advanced sonar systems. Vice Admiral Bernard "Bud" Kauderer, a member of the JINSA Board of Advisors, said, "the decline in ASW coincided with the end of the Cold War. The greatest threat posed to the U.S. in submarine warfare was the USSR, which at its peak reached up to 300 subs, both diesel and nuclear. There was no other force that comprised a significant threat to our Navy. There are other capable forces, but they're very small. The decline of the USSR paralleled the decline in our focus on ASW. Instead, our naval forces became more involved in strike warfare. ASW is an art that needs to be practiced." For example, in 2002 during the biennial RIMPAC, exercises involving the navies of the U.S., South Korea, Canada, Japan, Chile, Peru, and Australia, an Australian Collins-class diesel-electric submarine was able to score multiple kills against two U.S. Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered attack submarines. With the former Soviet submarine fleet largely left to rust at their moorings, ASW had not been a large concern until recently, when AIP submarines became more operationally effective and relatively easy to obtain. Only Swedish naval personnel will operate the Swedish ship, but there will be a handful of U.S. Navy researchers onboard to study the different features of the submarine. Kauderer said that Swedish submarine's operations would most likely begin with basic exercises in which the U.S. mission will be to locate the sub and then become more complex to the point where the Swedish sub will be used against an entire carrier strike group, consisting of one carrier, destroyers, cruisers, and one nuclear attack submarine. Admiral Vern Clark, Chief of Naval Operations, has strongly stressed the need for an improvement in ASW. He has overseen the establishment of three new programs to further the training of sailors: Fleet ASW Command, based out of San Diego; Task Force ASW, based out of Washington, D.C., which will study ASW and come up with a plan to better the training of sailors; and the Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems at Naval Sea Systems Command, which is in charge of researching, developing, and acquiring new technology to assist in ASW. The three are responsible for studying current ASW training exercises, capabilities, and weaknesses, and recommending different options for improving upon them. New operational techniques and new technology, some which had not been tested before, were to be put to use during an exercise called "Undersea Dominance '04," These exercises involved many different types of ships. Admiral Clark, as reported by The Navy League of the United States quoted Clark in their October 2004 issue of Sea Power as wanting to "fundamentally change ASW operations away from individual platforms - ship, submarine or aircraft - to a system with the attributes of 'pervasive awareness, persistence and speed, all enabled by technological agility.'" The newest class of U.S. nuclear-powered attack submarines, the Virginia-class, is being equipped with improved stealth capabilities and the most advanced ASW and combat control systems. Another characteristic of the new submarines is the reduced magnetic signature to allow it to operate more closely to mine fields in littoral waters. The lead boat of the class was commissioned on October 23rd, 2004 and there are eight more under construction with additional orders on the way. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |