Tuesday Submarine Tidbits

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Navy aircraft returning to former Cold War base in Iceland

Updating Land Base

DOD’s fiscal 2017 budget request includes funds to upgrade an existing P-3 hangar for the P-8 Poseidon. The Keflavik base, established in 1951, has been closed since 2006.

NAPLES, Italy — The Navy is turning to a former Cold War air base for a familiar mission — hunting Russian submarines.    ...The Navy now routinely sends P-3’s to Keflavik from its air base in Sicily to patrol for Russian subs in the North Atlantic, a Navy official said. The P-8 will fill the same role once the hangar is updated with new wiring, flooring and a rinse station, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak on the record about the project.

Russian submarines are patrolling the North Atlantic more frequently than at any time since the end of the Cold War, U.S. and European defense officials say.  ...Keflavik was home to about 2,500 Navy and Air Force personnel when the base closing was announced in 2006. 

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US Navy Absorbing $7 Billion Budget Cut

Fiscal Pressures  

A Navy source said the decision was made due to fiscal pressures, and claimed the service can meet operational requirements with nine active wings. Four aircraft squadrons are to be deactivated or canceled, and Whidbey Island will shift from sea to land-based ops.

WASHINGTON — The US Navy is absorbing a $7 billion reduction in fiscal 2017 funding – about 3.5 percent over last year’s plan, according to newly released budget documents. The service is reducing the number of ships it’s buying while adding more aircraft, and uniformed personnel also are being cut, up to as many as 6,400 sailors below previous forecasts.

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 The Ottoman Empire invented missiles and submarines in the 18th century  

 Taking Liberties with the Truth

Salim Ayduz of the British Muslim Heritage Center stated that missiles and submarines wereinvented in the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century. According to Ayduz, the Ottoman Empiresignificantly surpassed Europe in terms of weapons development during the so-called Tulip Era, which lasted between 1718 and 1730.  

"First, the Tahtelbahir submarine was created by shipyard worker Ibrahim Aga and shortly after, gunner Bayramoglu Ali Aga invented firearms and missiles," Ayduz said, adding that all knowledge in this field was ultimately lost."

What about a little  History Check from 1620?

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Sub CO Pucker Factors (from ridiculous to sublime)

Definition: Pucker factor is a military slang phrase used to describe the level of stress and/or adrenaline response in a dangerous or crisis situation. The term refers to the tightening of the buttocks caused by extreme fear.^[1] If it is inadequate, the person making decisions may make them "like a robot" without considering ethics or the long-term consequences of his actions; conversely, if it is excessive, then the person "puckers"--panics and becomes unable to think clearly and effectively.[2]

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If the idea of unmanned aircraft tracking targets from above is unsettling, imagine how a future Chinese or Iranian submarine captain could feel at being hunted by a robot ship on the surface.  PM - August 20, 2013

"That's the idea behind the Pentagon's Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel, or ACTUV. The program, run by DARPA, awarded the company SAIC the contract to build a prototype submarine-hunting [surface] ship."

ANSWER  Not so much; an unmanned aircraft tracking from above is barely anticipated by sub COs. The customary fear of manned tracking aircraft, especially a destructive P-8 Poseidon, is always a very frightening prospect for a submarine CO, however.  

AND "the idea behind the Pentagon's ACTUV,  a 130-foot surface craft (shallow draft, but easy torpedo target) is too flawed to be taken very seriously by a sub CO. Why? Due to the ACTUV's length, running lights, potential visibility to satellites, and COMM emanations subject to DF. 

BUT  DARPA's  ACTUV is really good for something else (not to be discussed here, but forecast here years ago) and provides ample cover for development of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs = Slocum gliders).  AUVs will soon be near the apex of sub CO pucker factors. What is at the very apex?  ---Seawolf and Virginia class SSNs.


WHY  Consider a Chinese or Russian submarine captain's anxiety at being pinged by one or more robot (autonomous Slocum gliders = drones) with active sonar optimized to the sub's depth (up to 3,000 feet) and actual ambient temperatures and salinity:

The following excerpts are from a recent article [color and underscoring emphasis are mine]:

"a fleet of 65 aquatic, submersible drones is already giving the U.S. Navy a tactical advantage"

"Right now the Navy is at the forefront of this technology," [researcher Oscar] Schofield says, "and the Office of Naval Research really funded and developed these gliders in the first place."The Navy currently owns 65 of the same kind of gliders Schofield operates, with plans to expand to 150 by 2015." But the Navy's interest isn't exactly in science. The fleet of gliders is helping the Navy gain a tactical advantage in the ocean's future war zones.


Where the gliders can have the biggest impact are the places where the Navy can't or isn't allowed to go. While he's not at liberty to list them all, Bub [Bub Frank of the Naval Oceanographic Office] points to places where the Navy currently has significant interest: "The Navy is in the western Pacific, the northern Indian Ocean, and the Navy spends time in the Mediterranean," he says. It's in these places (perhaps even around the increasingly tense East China Sea) that gliders could slip in silently to gather intelligence. "The gliders are clandestine," Bub says. "They spend very little time on the surface, they're not generally detectable, and although they communicate through the Iridium satellite system, they've been encrypted." 

Operational Planning 
And Schofield says this type of clandestine mission could be done from far away. Even though the gliders swim at less than a mile per hour, their propellerless propulsion and battery packs allow them to stay at sea for up to a year. "And you can launch a glider pretty far away from a region of interest. I could deploy one a hundred miles away from where I have it fly in," Schofield says.

Hunting Hidden Subs
Although the current Navy drones can reach a depth of only 3000 feet, the Navy already has plans for a newer version that could dive to more than 1 mile below sea level. By mapping the deep seas, the Navy thinks it can find places that are best for hiding subs.

Vigilis:   
Molten Eagle first introduced our readers to a "gliders" (type of AUVs or drone) in 2008, with one called Robotuna.   Then, in 2009, we had reported the cost of these early-stage Slocum gliders at the relatively expendable sum of $130,000 or less each.  Compared to the cost of crewed AIP subs robotic subs are clearly cheaper to build by the hundreds; and compared to the cost of nuclear subs robotic subs are not only cheaper to build by the thousands, but more expendable than even our torpedoes. 
Submarines are always silent and strange.