US Navy Subs Are Getting a Drone That Can Launch Through a Torpedo Tube

 

Sailors and engineers loading the UUV through the USS Delaware's torpedo loading hatch (USN)

For the first time, a U.S. Navy submarine has tested an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) that can leave and re-enter the sub through a torpedo tube. The capability to deploy a drone through an existing hatch creates new opportunities for surveillance, scouting and other missions. 

The Navy's submarine community has been testing a variant of the REMUS 600 military/civilian UUV for some time using a drydeck shelter and divers for launch and recovery. However, the number of subs in the Navy inventory that can carry a drydeck shelter is finite, and the launch and recovery procedure is operationally cumbersome, so the service has an interest in developing a variant that can go in and out of a torpedo tube. This would make the device usable across the fleet, on any sub in service, without the extra hassle of stopping and deploying divers each time it is used. The only challenge is threading a torpedo-size drone back through a torpedo-sized hole from the outside. 

“While the submarine is moving, the UUV has to find that torpedo tube and drive in,” top submarine warfare officer Rear. Adm. Doug Perry told USNI last year. “We expect in the very near future we will have that system operational.”

Like the Navy's existing Razorback and Kingfish UUVs, this new system is based on the REMUS 600, a widely used platform designed by Woods Hole and currently built by Huntington Ingalls. The underlying platform is designed to operate in 600 meters of water and support high-power-demand payloads like sonar systems. The rated endurance of the civilian version is about 24 hours at about five knots. 

Appropriately, the new version will be named the Yellow Moray, after an eel known for navigating in and out of holes in reef rocks. The system was tested fully from launch through recovery for the first time last week, according to the development team at Connecticut-based Submarine Readiness Squadron 32. 

The trials took place aboard the USS Delaware, a Virginia-class attack sub commissioned in 2020. Supporting partners included Woods Hole's Oceanographic Systems Lab, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Huntington Ingalls and the UUV specialists of Submarine Force Pacific's Unmanned Undersea Vehicles Squadron One.

Sailors and engineers loading the UUV through the USS Delaware's torpedo loading hatch (USN)

The UUV stowed in a torpedo rack aboard USS Delaware (USN)

The UUV prepared for launch (USN)

Photos released by the Navy show the UUV delivered and loaded aboard USS Delaware in a stainless cylinder, like an all-up round, using the same handling equipment employed to move and stow torpedoes. According to the squadron, the launch and recovery test was successful. 

If the Navy succeeds with Yellow Moray, it could be deployed fleetwide. Rear Adm. Robert Gaucher of Fleet Forces Command told Defense News recently that there is a plan to begin "putting these capabilities on every submarine" starting in 2024. 

China's New Stealth Submarines Will Be Even Harder To Find, Analyst Says

A Great Wall 236 submarine of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, billed by Chinese state media as a new type of conventional submarine, participates in a naval parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of China's PLA Navy in the sea near Qingdao, in eastern China's Shandong province on April 23, 2019. China's new Type-039C Yuan Class will be hard to find.

© MARK SCHIEFELBEIN/AFP via Getty

The latest iteration of China's Yuan class of submarine will include a subtle advancement that could make it much harder to find, according to an analysis published this month in Naval News.

The diesel-electric boat, designated the Type 039C, is designed to increase its survivability against active sonar, said open-source analyst H.I. Sutton, who noted its new stealth sail, tailored to reduce the submarine's signal strength on enemy radars.

Newsweek

China's New Stealth Submarines Will Be Even Harder To Find, Analyst Says

The update to the People's Liberation Army Navy's Yuan class submarine is among several naval projects undertaken by the Chinese military amid a rapid modernization drive under President Xi Jinping.

Xi, who began his second decade atop the Communist Party's leadership this month, has called for a comprehensive upgrade of China's armed forces to turn the PLA into a "world-class" military by the middle of the century.

The vessel's stealth sail—angled in shape—was first spotted in May 2021. Its ability to evade detection represents a strategic advantage in the Indo-Pacific region's crowded and contested waters.

It reflected a broader trend in naval warfare that was also being pursued by other countries, Sutton said. Sweden's next-generation A-26 or Blekinge-class submarine and Germany's upcoming Type 212CD used similar design principles.

According to Sutton, the Type 212CD boat took it further by encasing the entire submarine in an angled outer hull despite its increased drag—a trade-off Germany seemed prepared to accept.

China's Type 039C, however, is the only such design currently in the water.

Sutton's report said the new Chinese submarine design could counter medium-frequency sonars, complicating enemy classification of the vessel and causing advantageous delays or miscalculations.

He said the submarine's echo-reducing coating could also provide further protection against short wavelength sonars, such as those found on torpedoes.

The Pentagon's latest assessment believes the new Yuan class will be ready by the end of the decade.

Additionally, also set for an appearance by 2030, is China's latest Type 096 class of nuclear ballistic missile submarines.

The boat is expected to pose a significant challenge to U.S. and allied efforts to track them, with advances in quietness partly attributed to Russian technology, according to research published in August by the China Maritime Studies Institutes at the U.S. Naval War College.

"The Type 096s are going to be a nightmare," retired submariner and naval intelligence analyst Christopher Carlson told The Japan Times earlier this month.

The United States will balance China's upcoming naval capabilities with initiatives such as AUKUS, the trilateral security pact, and the technology-sharing agreement with the U.K. and Australia.

Under the partnership, Britain's Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy are set to field new nuclear-powered but conventionally armed AUKUS boats by the early 2040s.

Canberra will acquire American-made Virginia-class fast attack submarines while it waits.

Mozhaisk diesel-electric submarine joins Navy

RUSSIAN NEWS AGENCY

 ST. PETERSBURG, November 28. /TASS/. The Mozhaisk diesel-electric submarine of Varshavyanka-class project 636.3 built by the Admiralty Shipyard for the Pacific fleet hoisted the Navy flag on Tuesday.

"Dear comrades, another combat unit joined the underwater forces of the Pacific fleet, of the Navy today. Submarines of the project are equipped with the latest arms and carry long-range precision weapons that confirmed reliability in the fight against Syrian terrorists and neo-Nazis in the Black Sea. The submarines are dubbed the black hole as they are invisible for the adversary and deliver inescapable retaliation. We shall continue building the series," Navy Commander-in-Chief Nikolay Yevmenov said.

The Mozhaisk is the eleventh project 636.3 submarine. She is armed with Kalibr-PL cruise missiles and was developed by the Rubin Design Bureau to fight hostile submarines and warships, defend naval bases, coastal and sea communications, and engage in patrol and reconnaissance.

Project 636.3 submarines (Improved Kilo by NATO classification) are the third generation of diesel-electric submarines which are most noiseless in the world. They are 74-meter long and have a displacement of 3900 tons. They develop underwater speed of 20 knots, submerge to 300 meters and have the cruising capacity of 45 days. The crew comprises 52 men. They carry Kalibr missiles to strike at surface (3M-54 and 3M-541) and ground targets (cruise missiles 3M-14) and have new electronic equipment. The Admiralty Shipyard is building six Varshavyanka-class subs for the Pacific fleet.

Russian Submarine 'Chased' by British Helicopter and Warship After Snooping Around the Irish Coast

 

One of Russia's submarines was found lurking off the coast of Ireland. By: Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation

British military sources have reported that its navy intercepted a Russian submarine off the coast of Ireland.

Knewz.com has learned that the incident, which took place six months ago but only just came to light, occurred near Cork Harbour and is believed to be part of a spy mission conducted by Vladimir Putin's regime.

One of Russia's submarines was found lurking off the coast of Ireland. By: Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation

The Russian submarine was reportedly stationed outside the entrance to Cork Harbour and accompanied by a Russian-registered “civilian” vessel that is said to have provided surface surveillance.

The British were able to establish this after they deployed a helicopter under the cover of darkness and dropped sonar equipment into the water to track the submarine’s movements.

Sometime later, a Royal Navy anti-submarine frigate arrived on the scene to monitor the situation and subsequently “chased off” the snooper, per the Irish Examiner.

Notably, Russia's actions during this incident did not violate any international laws, as the submarine was lurking just outside the 12-mile coastal limit.

The snooping submarine was chased off first by a British military helicopter, then a warship. By: Facebook/Royal Navy

This event is one among various reported provocative gestures by Russian forces along the Irish coast, which may be because the Irish naval fleet does not possess sonar detection capabilities - making it ineffective in detecting submarines.

In May 2023, The Irish Times reported that a Russian Navy ship Admiral Grigorovich had become a regular fixture in Irish waters.

The UK Defence Journal reported that Britain participated in the observation exercise. “In response to these naval activities, both the British Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force have been providing support by tracking Russian navy ships operating in international waters near Irish and British territories.”

Russia’s presence in the area cultivated concern among experts that the occupants of these Russian vessels were either mapping or tampering with undersea cables, per The Irish Times.

The UK and Ireland are not the only European countries to have questioned Russian activity off their shores.

The actual severing of undersea cables occurred off the coast of Norway in April 2021 and again in January 2022.

“This could have happened by accident,” Norway's Minister of Defence Eirik Kristoffersen noted, but went on to say, “But the Russians are capable of cutting cables.”

A vessel from the Royal Navy was dispatched to deal with the hidden Russian threat. Facebook/Marine Technology

In August 2023 Reuters noted that Russia tested Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s determination to stay in Russia’s good books.

This observation followed a brazen raid wherein Putin’s armed naval officers swooped on a Turkish-based vessel 37 miles off Turkey’s coast.

The vulnerability of the UK and the rest of Europe's critical defense infrastructure has come amid growing concerns of potential conflict between Russia and NATO.

Russia is yet to comment on the latest report.