Showing posts with label Singapore Navy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Singapore Navy. Show all posts

Thursday 3 September 2020

Blue Spear : Is Singapore Ditching The Harpoon?




Harpoon Block II. Image : Boeing


On 15th July 2020 Singapore Technologies Engineering ( STE ) announced that its Land Systems division has signed an agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries ( IAI ) to set up a joint venture in Singapore, with each having a 50 percent share. The joint venture, named Proteus Advanced Systems, will leverage the strengths and track record of its parent companies to market and sell advanced naval missile systems, including a next generation anti-ship missile ( AShM ) system.

Under its Land Systems arm, STE manufactures an entire range of NATO-standard ammunition from the humble 5.56mm ball M193 round to 155mm artillery shells but anti-ship missiles are definitely not its forte. IAI on the other hand can be considered the pioneer in anti-ship missiles having developed the very successful and war-proven Gabriel missile since 1970.

As revealed by STE to Defense News, it appears that the two defense giants have been collaborating to develop a new generation AShM known as Blue Spear for a few years. Also known as 5G SSM ( 5th generation surface-to-surface missile ), Blue Spear " is an anti-ship missile system that introduces an advanced and novel approach which addresses the challenges of the modern naval arena for years to come ".

STE's role in the development of Blue Spear includes the design, development and production of major subsystems like the booster motor and warhead. It claimed that the development of Blue Spear and the joint venture was a commercially driven initiative by both companies and is " not driven by any ongoing customer requirement". Or is it? Which of STE or IAI's customers could have a requirement for and could afford an advanced AShM system? What is the best way to market a new weapon system to international customers?

The parent companies of Proteus Advanced Systems are either completely state-owned ( IAI ) or government-linked ( STE ). Although STE is a publicly listed company on the Singapore Stock Exchange, its most substantial shareholder is Temasek Holdings, the investment arm of the Singapore government, whom as of 1 Apr 2020 has a 52.13% share through direct and deemed interests. STE's most loyal and important customer of course is none other than the Ministry of Defense of Singapore. Similarly, 20% of IAI's sales goes to the Israeli defense ministry and the State of Israel is by no doubt IAI's most important customer.

With regards to the development of Blue Spear, it is probably of no coincidence that both the Israeli Navy and the Singapore Navy are equipped with the ageing Harpoon AShM and will soon have to decide if they should be upgraded to the latest standards or to field a completely new design. The joint venture suggests that the latter is more likely the case.


 
Stealth frigate RSS Intrepid fires Harpoon during Ex Pacific Griffin 2019
Photo : Mindef



The Harpoon In The RSN



The Harpoon is an all-weather, sub-sonic, sea-skimming, over-the-horizon, fire-and-forget anti-ship missile developed and manufactured by McDonnell Douglas ( now Boeing ). It can be considered one of the most commercially successful AShM in history with over 7500 units produced since it came into service with the US Navy in 1977. It has been sold to 31 countries apart from the United States.

The versatility of the Harpoon missile is such that it can be surface-launched, submarine-launched or air-launched, with the variants designated RGM-84, UGM-84 and AGM-84 respectively.

Many factors contributed to the Harpoon's success of which I will mention two. Focusing on the surface-launched version alone, in the early years, it out-ranged its contemporaries with its over-the-horizon capability with a published range of 70nm ( 126km ). Its relative compactness means that it can be launched from canisters bolted to the upper deck of almost any surface combatant from fast attack crafts to battleships.



RSS Victory in its original configuration with Harpoon, torpedo tubes,
variable depth sonar and angled auxiliary mast. Photo : Lurssen



Indeed one of the reasons why the Republic of Singapore Navy ( RSN ) acquired its Victory-class missile corvettes ( MCV ) which are equipped with the Harpoon AShM in the late 1980s was because it found itself having to keep Singapore's sea lines of communication open out to at least a thousand kilometers but its existing Sea Wolf - class missile gunboats ( MGB ) with Gabriel AShM out-ranged by its neighbours. It would later upgrade the MGB to carry a mix of 2 Gabriel and 2 to 4 Harpoon AShM. With a full load displacement of 254 tons and a length of 45 meters, the Sea Wolf - class MGB was probably one of the smallest platform to ever accommodate the Harpoon missile.



Upgraded Sea Wolf class MGB with Harpoon and Gabriel. Photo : Mindef


With the Harpoon AShM, the RSN acquired the beyond-the-horizon capability in anti-surface warfare ( ASuW ) for the first time and for a while it gave the RSN the upper hand when it came to the range of the various AShM among the regional navies. This technological edge however gradually became eroded with the passage of time with the emergence of newer and more advanced AShM in the inventories of its regional peers.

The MGBs were eventually decommissioned in 2008 and were replaced by the Formidable-class stealth frigates which were also armed with the Harpoon missile as their primary ASuW strike weapon. The Harpoon variant on these advanced frigates are sometimes stated as the RGM-84C ( Block 1B ) which are really ancient but are likely to be the marginally more advanced RGM-84D ( Block 1C ) as shown in the photo from MINDEF below. If indeed this were to be true, then the RSN would very soon need to either upgrade these old Harpoons to the latest Block II+ ER standard or risk facing obsolescence.




RSS Stalwart executing a designated time-on-target
Harpoon firing during Ex Pacific Griffin 2017.
RSS Supreme fired the other Harpoon. Photo : Mindef



Enlarged from photo above : RGM-84D-3


It is worth noting that more than a decade had passed since the commissioning of the stealth frigates and they will soon approach the mid-point of their life-cycle, the perfect time to have them acquire new capabilities via some service life extension program ( SLEP ). It has been planned as such even before the frigates have been commissioned ( see image below ).


Excerpt from keynote address by Mr Peter Ho, Permanent Secretary ( Defense )
at the Naval Platform Technology Seminar 2003.
Source : National Archives of Singapore.



After serving in the RSN for thirty years, the Victory-class MCVs are themselves due for retirement by 2025, to be replaced by a new class of locally designed and constructed vessels known as the Multi-Role Combat Vessel ( MRCV ) and these will need to be equipped with modern AShM as well.

So to regain the technological edge it used to have against its regional near-peer rivals the RSN clearly has a need for an advanced surface strike weapon for its frigates and its next-generation corvette replacements in the next 5 to 10 years. For that the RSN has several broad options : upgrade its existing stock of old Harpoons to the latest standard, buy a new missile system off-the-shelf, or opt for an indigenous design customized for itself. Each option has its own merits and risks.


 
RGM-84N Block II Harpoon skimming the waves.
Image : Boeing


Upgrading the Harpoon


Having been designed in the mid-sixties and first deployed in the late seventies, the Harpoon missile might be getting old but it has an undeniable strength - reliability. It simply works as advertised, each time and every time.

During RIMPAC 2018, six Harpoon missiles had been fired against two decommissioned USN ships from various platforms including air, surface and sub-surface assets from several participating nations. All six missiles hit their targets as intended. Especially interesting was the UGM-84 encapsulated harpoon launched by the nuclear attack submarine USS Olympia ( SSN-717 ). The UGM-84 had been taken off the regular armament of USN attack submarines for the past twenty years in favour of the Mk 48 Advanced Capability ( ADCAP ) heavyweight torpedo as the boat's preferred anti-ship weapon. Even after two decades of storage, the Sub-Harpoon scored a hit against the landing ship tank USS Racine. An AGM-84 air-launched Harpoon fired from an Australian P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft also struck the LST hulk.



Simultaneous time-on-target Harpoon firing, RSS Tenacious
RIMPAC 2018. Photo : MINDEF



Notably, the RSN's stealth frigate RSS Tenacious carried out a simultaneous time-on-target Harpoon firing with two missiles aimed at the ex-USS McKlusky, an Oliver Hazard Perry - class frigate. Both missiles happened to hit the hulk at the waterline which was rather unusual for the Harpoon missile. As a result the hulk sank much faster than anticipated and several other naval combatants were deprived of their chance to participate in the sink exercise ( SINKEX ). Through inference the remaining two missiles would have come from a participating USN P-8A.

As a result of this positive demonstration of the Harpoon's reliability, even the USN is showing renewed interest in upgrading the Harpoon missiles in its inventory and the UGM-84 might once again be part of the SSN's offensive weaponry.

The USN has not procured new Harpoon missiles for many years and all its latest Block II Plus Extended Range Harpoons are upgraded from its existing pool of RGM-84D ( Block 1C ) missiles. Each conversion kit from Boeing Defense and Aerospace would cost the US government perhaps $268000, a paltry sum compared to the cost of manufacturing a brand new Block II+ ER missile which is probably in the region of several million. For example Finland's 2018 request for 100 RGM-84Q-4 ( Block II+ ER ), 12 RGM-84L ( Block II ), 12 Block II+ ER upgrade kits, 4 RTM-84Q and 4 RTM-84L together with all the necessary spares, repair equipment, training and support was estimated to cost US$622 million.

Compared with the older Harpoon versions, the most advanced II+ER has a lighter but more lethal warhead and a more fuel efficient turbojet engine that together almost doubled its range. It also inherited the low cost inertial measurement unit from the JDAM program and the GPS guidance kit of the SLAM-ER missile. A net-enabled data-link enables the missile to receive in-flight targeting updates and there is also enhanced resistance against electronic countermeasures. So not only is its range increased, its connectivity and survivability has also been improved significantly.

Should the RSN choose to upgrade its RGM-84D Harpoons to the latest Block II+ ER standard, there will be considerable cost savings since it has a ready pool of Block 1C Harpoons to work on with all the necessary maintenance, repair, training and support infrastructures. But how many new tricks can you teach an old dog? One of the negative attributes of the Harpoon not amendable through the usual upgrades is its sub-sonic speed in this modern era of super-sonic AShMs. Being slower means giving the enemy combatants more reaction time to deploy countermeasures and initiate effective evasive maneuvers. It is also less stealthy compared to more recently introduced AShMs like the AGM-158C LRASM and can be detected more easily, reducing its chance of hitting its target. The need for a proprietary launcher for the Harpoon missile alone which cannot be loaded with other shipboard missile types means less flexibility in deployment and dedicated instead of shared resources and that can also work against the upgrade-harpoon option.




IAI Gabriel V AShM. Image : Finnish Navy



Off-The-Shelf Solutions


After half a century of evolution, there is currently no shortage of modern AShMs that can give the ageing Harpoon missile a run for its money. In fact many do out perform the Harpoon in one way or other. The Norwegian Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile and the IAI's Gabriel V AShM are two such examples contemporary sub-sonic anti-ship missiles. Examples of supersonic AShMs include Taiwan's Hsiung Feng III and the vertical launched Brahmos which is of Indian and Russian origin.

Buying mature anti-ship missile systems that have already completed their development cycles offers the lowest exposure to product development risks. It may result in rapid system integration and mitigation of any existing capability gap. However such ready solutions may not always be an exact match for the sometimes unique operational needs of the host country.

Singapore for instance has the great fortune of being strategically located along an important maritime route linking the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean where an estimated 5.3 trillion dollars of trade transit annually. It is the world's second busiest container port and is surrounded by shallow seas and numerous islands. Access to the Port of Singapore is via the narrow and busy deep water passage known as the Straits of Singapore where an estimated 2000 vessels of all types transit daily. Together with the equally busy Straits of Malacca to its north-west, these are major maritime choke points where the risk of piracy and the risk of collision between vessels are high. To conduct maritime interdiction operations in such congested littoral environments would be understandably challenging. Yet the RSN also has to be equally proficient in open-ocean operations in deep water environments such as the South China Sea, since its raison d'etre is to keep Singapore's sea lines of communications open. To find an anti-ship missile that can excel in both littoral and open-ocean domains may not be easy and since the RSN has such unique requirements, it might have decided to develop its own next-generation AShM rather than source for a ready made system.

 
 

Extreme congestion in Singapore Strait. Image : Marine Traffic


USS John S McCain damaged below the waterline after collision with
oil tanker in Singapore territorial waters near Pedra Branca 21 Aug 2017.
 Note the deck mounted Mk 141 quad Harpoon launchers. USN Photo. 



5G SSM



To have local defense engineers research and co-develop the next generation advanced anti-ship missile for Singapore probably made the most sense for the reasons mentioned above. Apart from ensuring complete customization for its operational requirements, designing and producing an indigenous AShM can also benefit the local state-linked defense industry by diversifying its product portfolio and allowing it to nurture new talents and acquire new design and manufacturing capabilities.

The setup of a joint venture between the Israeli and Singapore defense giants to market the 5G SSM and the tacit admission that the collaboration had been ongoing for a few years probably means that the missile is already in an advance stage of product development. As usual it is a matter of selecting the best time to make the official announcement so as to avoid alarming Singapore's regional peers least it triggers an arms race which is likely inevitable in the long run. Even then, the announcement was extremely low key appearing only on the webpages of IAI and STE and in a short article in the Straits Times of Singapore. So far almost nothing is known about the Blue Spear missile except it has advanced features to overcome the challenges of modern naval warfare. Here are some characteristics that the 5G SSM could possibly have.


Range - likely to be significantly greater than that of the current RGM-84D in the RSN's inventory to keep pace with the NSM, MM-40 Block 3, Otomat Mk2 and even the supersonic Yakhont, in service with regional navies. 200 to 250km is a reasonable estimate.

Speed - Likely to remain high sub-sonic rather than super-sonic considering that the RSN's area of operation included congested littoral environment.

Survivability - Must include low observability features with reduced radar cross section and infra-red signatures to decrease the detection rate and have enhanced electronic counter countermeasures to defeat the enemy ship's soft-kill and hard-kill capabilities.

Connectivity - Secure 2-way data-link to enable mid-flight course correction and to receive targeting updates from a variety of sources including surface combatants, maritime patrol aircrafts and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Accuracy - Possibly an AI selectable hybrid terminal guidance combining active and passive modes

Lethality - Advanced warhead design effective against both ship hulls and hardened land installations.

Versatility - Equally adept in littoral and open-ocean environments with secondary land attack capabilities.

Deployability - Preferably adaptable for both large and small vessels, compatible with both vertical launch systems and canister launchers.


Whatever its final form takes, the Blue Spear has to be far superior to the Harpoon Block 1C that it will presumably replace, by virtue of its adoption of the latest technologies which was not available to the designers of the Harpoon four decades ago. It should also have better performance compared to the most advanced Harpoon Block II+ER. With this rationale the RSN will probably be better off developing a cutting edge new generation AShM rather than upgrading its old Harpoons.

Having the Singapore and Israeli Navies adopt the 5G SSM can potentially make it easier to market the missile to other international customers. Endorsement of the weapon by two of the world's highly regarded navies is the best advertisement for this new missile system. While the Harpoon missile has served the RSN well for the past three decades, without an upgrade, its remaining days might be numbered. It might quietly fade into history in the next five to ten years as the Victory-class MCV gets decommissioned and the Formidable-class frigates get put through their SLEP, swapping the Harpoon for the Blue Spear.


Proteus Advanced Systems


Incidentally, in Greek mythology, Proteus is the oracular god of the sea who can predict the future, but will only do so when held captive. He is elusive and will constantly change his shape in order to avoid being captured. He is the herdsman of the sea beasts, one of several deities whom Homer refers to as " Old Man Of The Sea ". From the capability of Proteus to assume many different forms comes the adjective protean, meaning able to change frequently or easily, with the connotation of versatility, adaptability and flexibility. By naming their joint venture Proteus Advanced Systems what might IAI and STE be hinting at, if any?

 

Update 10th Sep 2020


I have received information that the scheduled retirement of the Victory-class missile corvettes have been pushed back by a good 5 years, from the original 2025 to 2030. This will be the final and maximum extension of service. The MLU carried out around 2010 was supposed to extend the service life of the MCV by 20 years at the most.

Presumably the MRCV project will also be delayed by 5 years since they are meant to replace the MCV.

So it would seem that the Harpoon missile will continue to reign in the RSN for another decade .... but highly unlikely beyond that.








Wednesday 17 June 2009

AIP Submarines For RSN



The New Archer-Class ( ex-Vastergotland Class ) Submarine





HMS Sodermanland was a Vastergotland-class SSK that was upgraded in 2003 with AIP.
Seen here in a 2010 photo. Photo via Wikicommons




In case you do not know, RSN stands for the Republic of Singapore Navy. The RSN has been operating submarines since 1995, when a total of 5 ex-Swedish Navy A-11 Sjöormen Class SSKs ( Diesel-electric Attack Submarines ) were acquired when they were being retired by the Swedes. These old boats were all launched between the years 1967 to 1968 making them more than 25 years old when they were sold to Singapore.

However, they were extensively refurbished and modernised by Kockums AB of Sweden ( now SAAB as of 2015 ) for operations in tropical climate before being re-commissioned for the RSN as the RSS Challenger Class submarines. Four of these boats form the backbone of the 171 Squadron while the fifth boat is cannabilised for spares.

The RSN subsequently acquired another 2 submarines from Sweden in late 2005, the A-17 Vastergotland Class SSK, which had been retired from service by the RSwN ( Royal Swedish Navy ). Again, Kockums AB was engaged to refurbish these submarines. At that time little else was announced about the deal, especially whether the refurbished boats will have Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) technology*. Today, 16th Jun 2009, the public learnt from the daily newspapers and MINDEF releases that these two boats are the RSS Archer and RSS Swordsman. RSS Archer has been launched at Kockums AB yard at Karlskrona by Mrs Teo Chee Hian, wife of the DPM / Minister for Defense.

Swedish newspapers reported that the Vastergotland deal was worth SEK 1 billion, then equivalent to US$135 million.
 


Launch of the RSS Archer at Kockums Shipyard in Karlskrona 16th Jun 2009.
Photosource : Kockums AB Photographer : Peter Nilsson 

What is Air Independent Propulsion?



AIP is simply a non-nuclear submarine propulsion system that works without requiring an external supply of air. It allows a conventional ( non-nuclear ) submarine to remain submerged for a longer period of time compared with their diesel-electric cousins as the AIP engine negates the need for an external supply of air / oxygen.
 
Diesel-electric submarines have batteries that need to be recharged by their diesel engines every now and then when they are depleted. Running the diesel engines require air / oxygen that can only be supplied when the submarine is either on the surface or when it is snorkeling. When snorkeling, the submarine stays submerged just beneath the surface but sticks its snorkel mast up to suck in air and expel diesel exhaust.

These activities put the submarine at increased risk of being detected by visual or infra-red sighting, radar reflection from the snorkeling mast or conning tower, magnetic anomaly disturbances or by the acoustic signature of the noisy diesel engines.

With AIP, all of the above risks normally associated with battery recharging will be eliminated. It allows the submarine to remain submerged for 2 weeks or more and makes the AIP submarine much stealthier than its diesel-electric counterpart.

The AIP Integrator



Kockums AB is the Swedish shipyard owned by Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems after a series of mergers and acquisitions starting from 1999. They have been building quality submarines for Sweden since 1912 and were the first in the world to produce a purpose-built AIP submarine the A-19 Gotland-class. While the RSwN retired the HMS Vastergotland and her sister ship HMS Halsingland, it chose to upgrade the newer two ships, the HMS Sodermanland and the HMS Ostergotland to being AIP capable using Kockum AB's proprietary AIP Stirling Engine. Kockums basically cut the submarines into two at mid section and lengthened the hull to accommodate the new Stirling Engine. The Stirling AIP uses diesel and oxygen in a closed system. The upgrade is so radical that the 2 boats are considered a new class of their own - the Sodermanland Class.
 
 

Royal Swedish Navy : All AIP Fleet


 
With the completion of the Sodermanland-class upgrade, the Royal Swedish Navy became the only navy in the world to have an entirely AIP capable submarine fleet. Nobody else could have that claim. Who else better to turn to when you need AIP submarines than the Swedes? They are the experts!


The A17 HMS Vastergotland ( left ) and the more advanced
A19 Gotland-class HMS Uppland  along side at Malmo, Sweden.
Photo taken in 2003 before the Vastergotland was sold to Singapore. Wikicommons


HMS Sodermanland and the submarine rescue ship A-214 HMS Belos in 2003. Wikicommons


 

Blue Water vs Brown Water



The US Navy commissioned the world's first operational nuclear submarine the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) in 1954 and never looked back. Their last batch of conventional diesel-electric submarine, the Barbel-class, was ordered between 1955 to 1956 and all had been retired by 1990. They now have an exclusively nuclear underwater fleet which is extremely effective for blue water ( open ocean ) operations which require long endurances. The Swedes however, have vastly different requirements where they have huge swaths of coastlines with deep narrow fjords to patrol. The salinity and temperature of the Baltic Sea are also very different from that of the open oceans and therefore the Swedes have long settled with conventionally powered submarines.
 
Singapore is a littoral state with plenty of shallow, murky waters and busy, noisy sea lanes. The small Swedish SSKs are well suited for this kind of underwater environment. Besides, modern diesel-electric submarines, like the Russian Type 636 improved Kilo Class SSK, can be extremely quiet especially when they are drifting or moving very slowly ( less than 5 Knots ). In fact, the RSwN HMS Gotland was "leased" to the USN for 2 years between 2005 to 2007, complete with crew, for bilateral anti-submarine exercises. Uncle Sam will not need to practice ASW with HMS Gotland if it was not quiet!



Growth of RSN's ASW Capabilities



The Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) capabilities of the RSN has grown in leaps and bounds ever since its early days of operating the Seawolf-class missile gunboats ( since retired ). In the 80s came the Victory Class missile corvettes with their variable depth sonar and Whitehead Alenia torpedoes. The 90s saw the addition of the Fearless Class ASW Patrol Vessels and of course, the best ASW platform, the Challenger Class SSKs.
The missile corvettes and the patrol vessels are both too small to accommodate any ASW helicopters. That glaring deficiency has since been rectified with the purchase of the Formidable Class stealth frigates which will carry the Sikorsky S70B Seahawk ASW helicopter, assumingly with magnetic anomaly detectors and towed array sonars plus offensive weapons like the mk46 torpedoes.
With the commissioning of the RSS Archer and Swordsman due in ?2010/2011, the RSN will have AIP technology among its submarine fleet and significantly increase its reach.
We must also not forget the aerial assets of the RSN, the Fokker F50 maritime patrol aircraft, in operation with the 121 Squadron since 1993, which acts as a force multiplier when dealing with naval threats.





What Singapore's Neighbours Have or Are Acquiring



The Malaysians have received their first of 2 Scorpene Class SSK earlier this year, the KD Tunku Abdul Rahman. These Scorpenes are not AIP endowed, unlike their more capable Spanish S-80 / S-80A cousins with the MESMA AIP engine which uses ethanol and compressed oxygen. They have another older Agosta B SSK based in France for training purposes. Since these were bought in 2002 during Malaysia's M-Era, the officially stated RM3.4billion package came with certain landing rights at the Charles de Gulle Airport for MAS as well. Maybe they could have had 3 scorpenes for the same price ( or 2 scorpene basic-AIPs ) had they not insisted on those landing rights, or having to pay the hundred over million ringgit of brokerage fees, or.... I digress. The second boat KD Tun Razak is due to be commissioned later this year.

The Indonesians have 2 ageing Type 209 / 1300 Cakra Class SSK since 1981. They have been recently upgraded by the South Koreans who also operate the Type 206 / Type 209 submarine. The Type 209 is one of the most widely exported submarine from the West. They have made an agreement with Putin in 2007 to buy among other things, 2 Type 636 Kilo Class SSK plus options for another 8 more. These orders have yet to be fulfilled.

Thailand has no submarine fleet but are eager to acquire one. Earlier efforts by Sweden to sell them the A19 Gotland Class submarine have failed to materialise. Most of the money could have gone into financing their purchase of the 12 SAAB JAS-39 Gripen fighters and the 2 SAAB S-1000 Erieye AEW. Air Force 1 Navy 0.

Vietnam has 2 ex-Yugoslav minisubs for special forces operations and has recently ( Apr 09 ) agreed in principle to buy 6 Russian Type 636 Kilo Class SSK. Pegged at USD1.8Billion these are said to be originally the ones ordered by Venezuela, but with Hugo Chavez's falling oil fortunes are now going to Vietnam.

Australia has 6 Type 471 Collins Class Diesel-electric SSK designed by Kockums AB. These are among the world's largest non-nuclear submarines displacing 3350tons submerged suited to patrolling the vast coastlines of Australia. They are quiet and capable boats with a large weapons load including the Boeing Sub-Harpoon anti-ship missile and the Mk48 ADCAP torpedoes. They can be retrofitted with AIP engines. Following a bad start with lots of delays and deficiencies, these boats have been upgraded with a combat control system from Raytheon similar to the one in the Virginia Class SSN of the US Navy.

The New Zealanders are on good terms with the Aussies and do not have any perceived threats in their immediate vicinity. The Helen Clarke Government retired the last of their 1950 era McDonnell Douglas A-4Ks without any replacement. Their air force now only operates helicopters and transports. The RNZN does not own any submarines.


The Future



What next after the RSS Archer? The RSN will probably retire part of its Challenger Class fleet upon arrival of the RSS Archer and RSS Swordsman. They can be mothballed or be used as a training submarine or be cannibalized for spare parts. Once its AIP operational experience has been gained, it can either look to acquire the A-19 Gotland Class when the Swedes are ready to retire them or consider other advanced options like the German HDW U212 / U214 AIP SSKs or the Russian Amur 1650 / Amur 950 / Kilo SSKs or God forbid, the DCNS / Navantia Scorpene SSK.

Update 2013



RSS Archer and Swordsman have both been commissioned. The 4 older Challenger Class submarines are still operational. There are now rumours that RSN could be interested in the latest Swedish A26 Class submarine.

The Collins Class SSKs of Australia is still plagued by generator and sonar problems. Only one out of six ship is currently operational. The RAN is looking to acquire 12 new enhanced-Collins type submarines as their replacement.

Indonesia bought 3 Type 209 / 1400s from South Korea.

Malaysia has received Exocet missiles with land attack capabilities for their Scorpene submarines, range about 180km .....

Update 3rd Dec 2013



In the Straits Times : The Republic of Singapore Navy will be acquiring 2 customized Type 218SG AIP submarines from HDW Kiel. They are likely to be ready by 2020. Two of the older Challenger class non-AIP submarines will be retired.