Her Majesty's fleet received a new submarine with a five-year delay
The British Navy has adopted a new generation multipurpose nuclear submarine Astute. The solemn ceremony took place on August 27 at the Clyde naval base, to which this submarine is assigned, which received the tail number S119.
The entry into service of the Astute-class lead submarine is of great importance to the Royal Navy. The first three boats of the new project developed by BAE Systems were ordered in 1997. Initially, they were supposed to replace some of the old Swiftsure class multipurpose nuclear submarines that remained in service.
However, the implementation of the planned plan was greatly delayed. The head submarine was laid down in 2001, the other two in 2003 and 2005. It took nearly a decade to build the first submarine. By November 2009, the implementation of the program was delayed by almost five years, and the planned budget was exceeded by 53%, or by 1.35 billion pounds (it was assumed that the cost of the first three submarines of the series would be 3, 9 billion pounds).
In August 2006, BAE Systems signed a contract to increase the order for four nuclear submarines. Astute was launched in 2007, at the same time the British Department of Defense recommended that the developer reduce the declared cost of the ships by 45%, threatening to refuse to purchase them if this is not done. Some reduction in the cost of the program really took place.
Meanwhile, only one Swiftsure-class submarine remains in the Royal Navy today, which is due to be decommissioned at the end of 2010. Moreover, in December 2009, this fate befell the head multipurpose submarine of the Trafalgar class. That is, due to the delay of the Astute project, the submarine forces of the British Navy currently have a weakened composition.
The Astute class submarine of the British Navy is a nuclear attack submarine that is intended to replace five types of Swiftsure class submarines that were launched between 1973 and 1977 and have reached their end of life.
Initially, the order was placed for only 3 submarines, but the UK Department of Defense (MoD) announced plans to produce three more such submarines. The performance characteristics of the Astute are vastly improved over the Trafalgar-class submarines of the 1st Fleet of the British Navy, the second squadron of submarines based in the area of the Naval Base Devonport. The new Astutes will be relocated to Faslane in Scotland.
New British attack submarine HMS Astute
Astute class boats are designed to combat enemy submarines and surface ships, conduct reconnaissance and strike at ground targets. The concept of using nuclear submarines of this type is consistent with the strategy of the "naval component of combined operations" adopted by the British Navy after the end of the Cold War.
Displacement Astute - 7800 tons, length - 97 meters, crew - 98 people (including 12 officers). Each sailor has his own berth - until now, British submariners have had one berth for two.
In accordance with the declared characteristics, the submarine speed is up to 29 knots, the immersion depth is up to 300 m. The autonomy is 90 days. The submarine is equipped with installations designed to obtain oxygen and fresh water from the outboard.
The submarine is armed with 533-mm Spearfish torpedoes, AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles and RGM / UGM-109E Tomahawk Block IV cruise missiles (CR). Can also be used for network-centric warfare "tactical" Tomahawk, the development of which has not yet been completed. The boat has six torpedo tubes. Ammunition - 38 torpedoes and missiles.
The power plant consists of a Rolls-Royce PWR2 water-cooled nuclear reactor, the boat is powered by a water jet.
The submarine is equipped with the Sonar 2076 Stage 4 hydroacoustic complex (SAC) by Thales, similar SACs are now also installed on Trafalgar class boats. The complex, in addition to long-range airborne antennas and bow antennas, includes a hydroacoustic station with flexible extended towed antennas, hydroacoustic signal detection and mine-searching stations. At the end of 2010, the modernization of the Sonar 2076 Stage 4 complexes on the British nuclear submarines will begin to the latest Stage 5. SJSC Sonar 2076 is positioned in Britain as the best in the world.
Astute is equipped with two Thales opto-electronic periscopes-masts CM010, which do not fall inside the rugged case. To view the surrounding space, such a periscope has a high-definition color TV camera, a camera for working in low light conditions and an infrared camera. The use of devices of this type makes it possible to better display what is happening at sea, as well as to reduce the visual, acoustic, radar signature of a submarine traveling at periscope depth.
In general, there is nothing outstanding in the characteristics and composition of Astute's weapons. In terms of their main indicators, they are surpassed by both the American Virginia class nuclear submarines and the Russian Project 971 SSGNs. True, the radio-electronic and hydroacoustic equipment of the Shchuk-B combatants can no longer be called the most perfect and not a single Project 885 fourth-generation multipurpose submarine has yet entered to the Russian Navy.
