Page 22 - NAVAL FORCES 03/2017

Technology Spotlight

To move beyond Mesma (shown)
and stay ahead of its competitors, DCNS decided
to develop the FC2G second-generation fuel cell. It produces
onboard hydrogen from standard diesel fuel by chemical reformation.
In parallel with this effort, the group also developed a patented system to inject nitrogen
into the oxygen supply line in the same proportion as in normal air resulting in a mixture that is far less
reactive than pure oxygen. This ‘synthetic air’ is then injected into the fuel cells where it reacts with hydrogen
to produce electricity.
(Photo: DCNS)

being designed specifically for the RAN and only triggering retaliatory militarisation in its 70s (“Hashmat” class) from the late 1970s.
its $1 billion Technical Data Package was ex- neighbourhood, but is unsettling the region by Though both India and South Korea prima-
clusively for the IN’s “Scorpene” programme. supplying SSKs to impoverished nations like rily assemble existing platforms under licence,
Similarly, under a German-Norwegian stra- Bangladesh and Pakistan. It recently trans- they have developed competence in submarine
tegic partnership, TKMS will be building ferred two 1,800t “Ming” class Type 035Gs to construction, especially in aspects of hull fab-
four upgraded HDW Type 212As that will be Bangladesh after refurbishing them at a cost rication, outfitting, and systems integration.
delivered as HDW Type 212CD (Common of $203.3 million. It will also help establish a India’s Mazagon Dock Ltd (MDL) has built
Design) to replace Norway’s six “Ula” class base in the Bay of Bengal; these submarines, two of the four HDW Type 209s – designat-
vessels. Two more will be built for the German the first for the Bangladesh Navy, will trans- ed the “Sindhughosh” class – acquired by the
Navy. form the service into a ‘three-dimensional’ IN, and constructed the six “Scorpene 2000s,”
Vietnam’s $3.2 billion order from Admiralty force. Each submarine features eight 533mm while Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and
Wharf came to be one of Moscow’s largest for tubes that will very likely deploy the Chinese Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Enginee-
naval hardware, the deal entailing the supply 45km range Yu-4 torpedo, or 32 naval mines ring (DSME) are producing nine HDW Type
of six “Varshavyanka” class boats modified as in lieu. 214 variants, designated the “Son Won II”
per Hanoi’s requirements, weaponising them, In one of China’s largest overseas weapons class.
training Vietnamese crews in Russia and sales, worth $5 billion, CSIC will deliver four DSME also licence-built nine derivatives of
building a submarine facility at the Cam Ranh S20s, the export variant of the “Yuan” class the HDW Type 209/1200 submarines that were
Bay deepwater harbour in southeast Vietnam. Type 41, to Islamabad by 2023 and ToT kits for designated the “Chang Bogo” class and which
These P-636MV (Vietnam export version) the assembly of four more by 2028. They will joined the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN)
submarines are superior in several aspects to be compliant with the Stirling air-independent between 1993 and 2001. It was also awarded
their older variant, the P-636MK (China ex- propulsion (AIP) system, armed with YJ-2 a $1.1 billion contract in 2011 by Jakarta for
port version), which the shipbuilder adjusted anti-ship missiles and Yu-4 passive homing delivering three improved “Chang Bogo” class
to Beijing’s requirements. A dozen of China’s and Yu-3 active/passive homing torpedoes. (Type 209/1400) boats to the Indonesian Navy
53 SSKs are Russian “Kilos.” The Pakistan Navy already operates three between 2015 and 2018.
With one of the world’s largest nuclear and DCNS “Agosta” 90Bs (“Khalid” class) pur- The US, the world’s largest maritime power,
conventional submarine fleets, China is not chased in the 1990s, and two older “Agosta” has not built any diesel-electric submarines

Sweden is unleashing its GHOST (Genuine HOlistic STealth) technology, making the Kockums A26 submarine
effectively invisible as all its signatures are lower than those of the Kockums “Gotland” class and many other submarines.
(Photo via author)
20 NAVAL FORCES III/2017