Launch of the first of class Soryu ("Blue (or Green) Dragon") (Japanese そうりゅう ) at MHI's shipyard in Kobe, Japan, December 2007. Australia's future submarines are likely to be launched from slips in Kobe at MHI and/or KHI. With necessarily gradual timings Australia's first in class submarine may be "laid down" in 2023, launched 2026 and commissioned by 2029 (hopefully with major technical problems fixed...)(Photo courtesy Japan Times).
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I think it is useful, when considering how the Soryu will (or may) evolve into Australia's future submarine, to illustrate the possibilities in tabular form.
S has been very helpful in the construction of the Table. The "16SS" through to "29SS" sequence appears to be Japanese Ministry of Defence's (JMD/MoD's) terminology for planning and funding submarine authorizations year after year.
16SS can be called the beginning of the sequence of "Soryu Mark 1s" which have diesel engines and Lead Acid Batteries (LABs) as their primary propulsion and Stirling Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) as secondary propulsion.
For the future Soryus 27SS and 28SS LABs will be replaced by Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). For them and Japanese submarines onwards Stirling AIP will be removed. These changes could justify future 27SS or 28SS being described as the first of the "Soryu Mark 2s". Possibly they will be given another Japanese name instead of Soryu and possibly they may have a fuel cell AIP emergency backup.
29SS with greater certainty will be a new submarine class (no longer called Soryu). It is likely that Australia's future submarine will be a derivative of 29SS - perhaps 500 tons to 1,000 tons heavier than 29SS to fulfil Australia's submarine content requirements (eg. much more diesel fuel capacity and one or more vertical multi-purpose locks (VMPL))
The first of class Australian submarine should be launched and fully commissioned BEFORE the next Australian submarines are launched. This will allow any problems (like diesel propulsion noise, cavitation, LIB current and battery efficiency/reliability, fuel tanks, combat system) in the first of class to be identified and rectified.
This is so the lessons can be fixed on first of class and applied to second in class onwards.
This first of class problem rectification process did not occur efficiently with the Collins class - a series of mistakes the Collins submarines and RAN are still suffering from.
When Australia's first new submarine is laid down in Kobe, Japan (perhaps in 2023) major changes to Japan's submarine production/build pattern will occur. KHI/MHI will cease their overall one submarine per year alternating build pattern and will build an average of one Japanese submarine and one (or half of one) Australian submarine per year.
Anywhere from 6 to 12 Australian submarines will be built. US and Australian technicians will be present in Japan installing and testing the mainly US developed combat system of sensors-database-weapons (perhaps 30% of a submarine build effort and cost).
SORYU TABLE
In the Soryu Table below:
- LAB means Lead Acid Battery.
- LIB is Lithium-ion Battery,
- AIP is Air Independent Propulsion (Swedish-Kockums designed Stirling)
When I translate Soryu (in Japanese そうりゅう ) into English it usually comes out as "Ssangyong". Obviously a more complex translation process than German or French.
SS
No.
|
Building
No.
|
Pennant
No.
|
Name/Namesake
|
LAB or LIB & AIP *
|
Laid Down
|
Laun
-ched
|
Commi-ssioned
|
Built
By
|
16SS
|
8116
|
SS-501
|
LAB + AIP
|
March 2005
|
Dec 2007
|
March
2009
|
MHI
| |
17SS
|
8117
|
SS-502
|
LAB + AIP
|
March 2006
|
Oct 2008
|
March
2010
|
KHI
| |
18SS
|
8118
|
SS-503
|
LAB + AIP
|
Feb 2007
|
Oct 2009
|
March
2011
|
MHI
| |
19SS
|
8119
|
SS-504
|
LAB + AIP
|
March 2008
|
Nov 2010
|
March
2012
|
KHI
| |
20SS
|
8120
|
SS-505
|
Zuiryu (けんりゅう) / Sword Dragon
|
LAB + AIP
|
March 2009
|
Oct 2011
|
March
2013
|
MHI
|
22SS
|
8122
|
SS-506
|
LAB + AIP
|
January 2011
|
Oct 2013
|
March
2014
|
KHI
| |
23SS
|
8123
|
SS-507
|
LAB + AIP
|
Feb 2012
|
Nov 2014
|
March
2016?
|
MHI
| |
24SS
|
8124
|
SS-508
|
Sekiryu /
Holy Dragon
|
LAB + AIP
|
2013
|
2 Nov 2015
|
2017
|
KHI
|
25SS
|
8125
|
SS-509
|
?
|
LAB + AIP
|
2014
|
2016?
|
2018
|
MHI
|
26SS
|
8126
|
SS-510
|
?
|
LAB? + AIP
|
2015
|
2017?
|
2019
|
KHI
|
27SS
|
8127
|
SS-511
|
Soryu Mark 2
|
LIB only
|
2016?
|
2018?
|
2020?
|
MHI
|
28SS
|
8128
|
SS-512
|
?
| LIB only |
2017?
|
2019?
|
2021?
|
KHI
|
29SS
|
8129
|
SS-513
|
LIB only
|
2018?
|
2020?
|
2022?
|
MHI
| |
1AU?
|
1st Australian class?
|
2023?
|
2026?
|
2029?
| ||||
The Japanese Ministry of Defence seems to be steadily generating more website material - part of public transparency - which I will explore in future articles.
Pete
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