Traditionally, modern nuclear submarine components of the fleets of large maritime powers are represented by two classes of submarines: SSBNs - nuclear submarines carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles, which we call strategic missile submarines (SSBNs), and MAPLs - multipurpose submarines carrying anti-ship / anti-submarine torpedoes anti-ship missiles and long-range strategic cruise missiles. But now, at the end of the second decade of the 21st century, when a complex military-political situation and a completely network-centric theater of operations require the maximum functionality of each combat unit, all the prerequisites have appeared for the design of a fundamentally new type of submarines with a nuclear power plant, combining both strategic capabilities of an aerospace attack from SSBNs and the impact capabilities of the MAPL, which consist in a massive strike by low-altitude SRC. Moreover, most of all, such universal submarines are needed by states whose navies have an insufficient submarine fleet. Unfortunately, today our Navy is still on this list. If Russia and the United States practically do not differ in the number of SSBNs (we have 13 SSBNs and they have 14), then in multipurpose missile submarines and SSGNs our fleet is 2 times lower (27 versus 57). The construction of 30 "counterweight" MAPLs is not an easy task, it takes a long time to realize and is very expensive, and therefore a universal strategic submarine cruiser can be considered a very good option, the expediency of development of which was recently criticized by "Military Parity" with reference to Vladimir Dorofeeva.
"Military Parity" called the idea of developing such a submarine "utopia", "embellishing" the words of Dorofeev from an interview for TASS. He explained for the news agency only that it is impossible to fully realize the capabilities of 2 types of submarines in one submarine, but did not at all claim any utopia of this concept. And indeed it is.
Firstly, cruise missiles of the Caliber family are unified with all 533-mm torpedo tubes of SSBNs, MAPLs and torpedo submarines: any Russian diesel-electric and nuclear submarine from Halibut and Shchuka-B can carry this unique unobtrusive WTO. to "Ash" and "Borea". The number of TFR type 3M14T on submarines depends solely on the volume of compartments for torpedo weapons. It is only by this ability that the Borei-class SSBN can be safely ranked among the class of universal nuclear submarines.
The second question concerns the permissible maneuverability of SSBNs and MAPLs, which is different for each class of submarines. Based on the presence of complex and massive launchers in SLBM silos, as well as the large mass of a piece of equipment (each R-30 Bulava-30 weighs 36.8 tons), any SSBN has some design restrictions on overloads at the time of maneuvering with a full arsenal of ballistic missiles on board. But despite this, for example, 5 manned titanium hulls, which form the structural strength of the submarine of pr. 941UM, allow it to maneuver with decent overloads, as well as to carry out a "quick" emergency ascent with "jumping out". This maneuver was also practiced with the Borey. A silo launcher with 20 TPKs for RSM-52 or RSM-56 missiles is located between the 2 forward titanium hulls that keep the arsenal safe in the most difficult conditions.
From this we can conclude that the design of a universal submarine carrier of cruise and ballistic missiles with a sufficiently strong hull and high maneuverability is a completely feasible task in the 21st century.
The third question relates to the noise level of the universal submarine at quiet and full speed. As you know, modern sound-absorbing materials of the hull, vibration-insulating platforms and mountings of units in engine rooms, as well as auxiliary electric propulsion systems (VEDS) allow any type of nuclear submarines to minimize the power of their acoustic field, especially in the broadband and tonal components of hydroacoustic waves generated by the operation of the turbine, gearboxes, various hydrodynamic organs. But this does not negate the concept of an underwater displacement, which in the overwhelming majority of cases is greater for a strategic missile submarine than for a MAPL (SSGN). Such large submarines will include a universal nuclear submarine, the estimated underwater displacement may exceed 17-20 thousand tons. The acoustic field of such a submarine at medium and full speed, especially with the classic design of the propulsion unit, will be much higher than a multipurpose nuclear submarine with a smaller displacement.
The first exit is a quiet move, in which the noise of the "universal" submarine cruiser will be comparable to that of a conventional SSGN. This is confirmed by the comparative graph of the dependence of the surface displacement of MAPLs and SSBNs on a quiet run on the average integral noise levels of these submarines, which were given in their work by Captains 1st Rank V. Parkhomenko and Y. Pelevin. But the constant need for a low-noise course excludes the multipurpose qualities of a universal submarine, because its range of tasks will include the fight against American aircraft carrier strike groups, where the developed PLO system based on the P-3C Orion, P-8A Poseidon, shipboard GAK AN / SQQ-89 (V) 15 and unmanned anti-submarine ships "Sea Hunter" does not allow our submarine to operate at low speeds.
This will require the development of a fundamentally new design of the propulsion system, which has already been met in the sketches of a promising Chinese multipurpose submarine Type 095. It is planned to implement an in-hull jet propulsion unit with frontal water intakes. This setting is much quieter than the standard one and allows you to walk at higher speeds. Such a universal SSBN can become the 5th generation of Russian nuclear submarines.
USC President Alexei Rakhmanov reported more encouraging information about the qualities of a promising multipurpose submarine of the Husky class. Belonging to the 5th generation should be expressed not only in the low noise of the new submarine cruiser, but also in obtaining the strategic capabilities inherent in SSBNs. Nevertheless, according to the TTZ for the new submarine, its displacement will allow taking on board extremely promising hypersonic cruise missiles 3M22 "Zircon" and strategic subsonic missiles of the "Caliber" family. The absence of SLBMs in the arsenal will not allow the Husky to reach the SSBN level. The universal submarine assumes a completely different reinforced structure and a much larger displacement.
Thanks to the remarkable unification capabilities of the Calibers, our Borei SSBNs have already received a certain amount of versatility, but a limited number of TFRs and strength nodes that do not correspond to the hulls of light and maneuverable MAPLs, the fleet needs a new submarine, since in the US Navy such versatility is also not worth it. location.
The top photo shows a 1x7 TLU for the BGM-109C / D "Tomahawk" SCR installed in the TPK of the Trident-D5 SLBM silo launcher on one of the Ohio SSGNs; in the lower photo, the program interface for managing the data of the VPU on the multifunctional indicator BIUS of the submarine
During the period from the end of 2002 to the beginning of 2008, Electric Boat, in accordance with a 443 million contract with the US Navy, converted 4 American Ohio-class SSBNs into SSGN carriers SKR BGM-109C / D "Tomahawk". Each submarine cruiser had 1x7 Tomahawk VPUs in 22 out of 24 TPK cells (total ammunition is 154 missiles). From that moment on, 1/3 of the "Ohio" in service with the Navy turned into multipurpose nuclear submarines. But the most important thing is that the new TLUs have a very flexible configuration for installing the remaining 14 Ohio SSBNs in the silos.
The latter, 5-7 years later, will be replaced by promising SSBN-X class SSBNs. And the remaining "Ohio" may well be equipped with 10 fixed "drums" with 70 "Tomahawks" and 12 (or 14) ballistic missiles of the latest version of the UGM-133A "Trident II-D5". Here is a versatile submarine with a huge arsenal of cruise missiles and a decent number of SLBMs. Partial refurbishment of 14 SSBNs may take about 7-8 years, which means that after the mid-1920s the number of American submarine "Tomahawks" may exceed one and a half thousand. Therefore, no matter how much talk goes about the expediency of developing universal nuclear submarines, our submarine, numerically inferior to the American one, needs such a program more than ever.
