Researchers at the Naval Research Laboratory claim to have come up with a better tool for underwater acoustics. The new system uses laser light to create sound underwater from a distance. This technology could allow planes a much easier method of communicating with submarines without the need for a floating buoy. “Efficient conversion of light [...]
Browsing Posts in Submarines
This is kind of an interesting piece of news. If you remember, a lot of hoopla came out when US naval intelligence said that China only conducted 2 submarine patrols in 2006. There was a lot of discussion on what defined a patrol after that came out. As the article below states, Chinese submarine activity [...]
This story from Reuters-India tells us that Russian President Medvedev is talking up the possibility of leasing not only the ill-fated Nerpa but ‘several’ Project-971 submarines to India, for 10-year leases. Although there isn’t any press on India’s response to this – the Nerpa deal was on, off, on, etc. after the recent accident – [...]
The New York Times has published an editorial on funding the Pentagon in the coming years, along with specific recommendations on various big-name Pentagon procurement programs. I won’t repeat their recommendations here, since you can easily read them at the link above, but wanted to touch on a few of them. They recommend canceling the [...]
There are some fresh details on the Russian submarine accident TheCustodian covered last night. According to several news reports this morning, seventeen of the dead were employees of the Amur Ship-Building Enterprise while only three were sailors. The government released a list of 20 names this morning, all were Russian. While the name of the [...]
Rear Adm. (sel.) Mark Kenny, director of the new Navy Irregular Warfare Office, told the Submarine Naval League Symposium in Virginia last week that the SSGNs are being sent “where al Qaeda is at…it’s that simple” according to an article in Defense Daily (subscription) this morning. “The first two deployments, the Ohio and Florida, were [...]
Medvedev observes first-ever test-launch of Russian SLBM
There are a few photo’s out from Chinese BBS worth noting. The first appears to be the Fourth Yuan class submarine being rolled out at Wuhan. Click for better resolution. Also interesting is this picture from CCTV of two nuclear submarines, what the TV is calling Type 091s. They don’t look like Type 091s to [...]
South Korea launched its third Type 214 submarine last week. While it is often noted the quantity of naval growth taking place in China and India, we continue to observe both growth and quality in the naval forces being produced by South Korea. The addition of Type 214s to the naval mix by South Korea [...]
I would link to the press release, but it doesn’t exist. New photography this week highlights the 3rd Yuan Class submarine has been launched. The first photo is a comparison of the first two Yuan class submarines launched, with the remaining photo’s of the 3rd Yuan recently launched. The 2008 Annual DoD Report (PDF) for [...]
How dangerous is China? Ask the Russians, who are organizing their lawyers to go after the one place China seems to take seriously, their wallet. There has been some very interesting discussions taking place over in Russia, and it turns out, while they didn’t really care that the Type 39 Song Class submarine was built [...]
Has China “secretly built a major underground nuclear submarine base that could threaten Asian countries and challenge American power in the region”? Thomas Harding, writing in the London Daily Telegraph early this month, has declared that it is. According to Hardy, “Satellite imagery, passed to The Daily Telegraph, shows that a substantial harbour has been [...]
This is a pretty good hi res photo of a PLAN Russian Kilo class submarine. At most she has been in service for what, 4 years tops? Sexy. However, sometimes it is about perspective. I think these photo’s are the same submarine. Updated: My commenter’s as usual are much smarter than me, and they have [...]
In the CRS report by Ronald O’Rourke on PLAN modernization there is an interesting table that outlines the commissionings of PLAN submarines by year starting in 1995. Because good hard data is difficult regarding the PLAN, this might be the most useful chart yet on the subject. According to this chart, the PLAN only commissioned [...]
At first, we were not really sure where the interesting Carrier vs Subs series by Martin Sieff was going, and to be honest, it is still unclear where his conclusions lie, but as a discussion topic we find the series quite interesting and compelling for analysis. The first, second, and third part of his series [...]
UW Seaglider draws U.S. military attention
In discussing PLAN submarines lately, we thought it might be interesting to put the recent shipbuilding production into context. Based on our discussion and review the other day, we note that in the 5 years from January 2003 to December 2007 we can account with a good deal of certainty China has built 15 attack [...]
Back in November we pointed out that the US appears to have lost control of its nuclear policy in relation to Russia. We highlighted that the United States will spend $448M in the FY08 budget on dismantling Russian nuclear weapons, which is a good cause, but by paying for the dismantling it is allowing Russia [...]
While American press reports continually headline China’s buildup of naval forces, in reality there is only one warship category in which the Chinese Navy is superior to the U.S. fleet — diesel-electric submarines. In no other category is the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy even close to U.S. Navy force levels or capabilities. The Chinese [...]
