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objective conflicts, it is evident
that a number of ASW capabilities are required.
- Torpedo defenses—diverse and robust defenses, nearly impregnable.
- Shallow-water ASW—special sensors and weapons, adaptation of existing deep water systems to assure graceful degradation.
- Tactical oceanographic support—due to unfamiliar or highly variable, marginal seas.
- Deployable regional surveillance—to compensate for lack of coverage by fixed surveillance systems and possible employment constraints for mobile systems.
- Nonacoustic ASW—to exploit submarine operating constraints in confined and shallow sea regions.
- Command, control, and communication (C3I)/coherent tactical picture development—to allow optimum use of limited resources and to avoid collateral battle damage.
- Third World intelligence— technical and operational intelligence on Third World navies, comparable to that gathered for Warsaw Pact.
- Surveillance and intelligence support to on-scene commander—near real-time support, including national assets focused on Third World contingency region.
- Tactical deception to reduce submarine encounters—use deception to exploit lack of adversary operational competence, force frequent periscope checks.
- Organic air ASW capabilities—to offset lack of available basing and forces, allow fewer combatants to conduct adequately effective ASW.
- Robust at-sea resupply—to offset high ASW ordnance/ sonobuoy expenditures, even without forward basing.
—Fitzgerald and Benedict
It is not clear whether the number of Third World submarines worldwide will increase this decade, particularly in view of China’s uncertain submarine force. However, the quality of submarines will continue to increase dramatically in accordance with Soviet, West German, other Free World, and Third World submarine design developments. The days of old Soviet Whiskeys and Ex-U.S. Guppy- class submarines will soon be gone in this era of high technology transfer.
Improved Quieting and Submerged Endurance
Diesels operating submerged on battery at low speeds (non-cavitating) have always been difficult passive acoustic targets. Limited exploitable narrowband signatures and very low broadband radiated noise have often confounded ASW forces attempting to locate them. The best opportunities were during intermittent snorkel operations. However, this may be changing radically for two reasons. One, modern diesel submarines such as Kilos and Type 209 derivatives have significantly quieter snorkel signatures. Two, high-density batteries today and air independent propulsion (AIP) schemes in the near future will greatly reduce the need for frequent snorkeling.
Four AIP concepts are actively being pursued by the West and perhaps by the Soviets as well: closed-cycle diesel engines, fuel cells, Stirling engines, and low-power nuclear reactors. In each case, the AIP technology is to be used in a hybrid configuration with the diesel engine in order to provide a secondary power source of 100-400 kilowatts. This secondary power source would normally be used to run the generators needed to recharge the ship batteries without any need to go to the surface for air. Closed-cycle diesel engines and Stirling engines typically rely on stored liquid oxygen to achieve air independence. Fuel cell systems rely on stored reactants such as oxygen and hydrogen to produce electricity directly from chemical reactions without any combustion.
The main utility of the AIP techniques is to increase the submerged endurance of diesel submarines patrolling at low speeds (4-6 knots). High-speed operations exceed the power output of these systems. However, for low-speed operations, the battery can be kept at full charge indefinitely with the “nuclear battery charger” and for up to two to four weeks with the nonnuclear AIP concepts that are limited by such things as stored oxygen constraints.
These AIP techniques also have applications for minisubs. The Italian firm Maritalia is developing a 150-ton
59
Proceedings / August 1990