Update 26 September 2024 - added videos and response to Pete.
On the 24th of September 2024, Singapore commissioned the first two Type-218SG Invincible-class SSK AIPs into the Republic of Singapore Navy service. In a morning ceremony, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Lawrence Wong officiated the full commissioning of the RSS Invincible and RSS Impecabble.
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| Image: Naval News (Singapore MINDEF image) |
The ceremony was live-streamed on YouTube, and as I cannot insert that video on this blog, please goto:
https://www.youtube.com/live/SBDRIwK9tlA?si=eu71yalnXYlZuA_w&t=1831
Singapore's Ministry of Defense also held a media showcase of the upgraded submarine simulator centre that trains the RSNs future submariners. Trainees undergo a nine-month training course that includes operations in a full-motion dive simulator, and training simulators for engineering, including a battery compartment. The new simulator is from Rheinmetall and will allow Singapore to train qualified sub-crews in-country,
Pete and I have had over a decade of exchanges on this topic, including his 2013 article about TKMS's involvement in Kockums, which I called 'the Kockums-block'.
Singapore has a long military export relationship with Sweden, going back to the 1970s, and specifically with Kockums - Singapore purchased four new Landsort-class mine countermeasure vessels in 1991, the Bedok-class, followed by four Challenger-class submarines (actually five, the last boat was used as a parts donor) in 1995 and the two Archer-class boats in 2005. Kockums was sold to TKMS in 2005, as part of the HDW group.
Kockums had one project with the Swedish Navy in the 2000s, the Visby-class corvettes, so its export work for Singapore (including 4 Kockums V4-275R Stirling Engines) kept the company in the black until the long-delayed A26 project started, with Sweden signing a contract with Kockums in 2010.
By 2014 two facts emerged:
1. In December 2013, Singapore selected TKMS to build two submarines (eventually the 4 Invincibles), the only other bidder was Naval Group. Kockums was 'not allowed' to bid.
2. Russia annexed Crimea, causing every nation in Europe to reevaluate their military, and Sweden suddenly discovered that after three years, there was nothing done by Kockums with the A26 except glitzy marketing graphics.
As I’ve written in a previous post, two boats, the RSS Illustrious and RSS Inimitable remain in Kiel, Germany, where they are now expected to return to Singapore by 2028, according to the Singapore MINDEF press release.
The Invincibles are the third generation of submarines to enter commission in the RSN, and are also the first built-for-purpose class, as the Challenger- and Archer class came from Kockum’s used submarine lot. The last two Challenger boats, RSS Conqueror and RSS Chieftain, are still in RSN service, 55 years after their launch, and will soon be decommissioned - I expect this to occur by the end of 2024.
Singapore's Ministry of Defense also held a media showcase of the upgraded submarine simulator centre that trains the RSNs future submariners. Trainees undergo a nine-month training course that includes operations in a full-motion dive simulator, and training simulators for engineering, including a battery compartment. The new simulator is from Rheinmetall and will allow Singapore to train qualified sub-crews in-country,
According to an article by defence correspondent Mike Yeo, the 2,000-tonne displacement Invincible-class has 50% more underwater endurance than the six weeks of the Archer class, while automation has reduced its crew size to 28, all with their own berths (including female submariners).
The 2013 Kockums-block
Pete has commented that "Singapore made the correct decision buying the current technology Invincible from Germany rather than risk lateness and cost overruns with the new technology A26 from Sweden."
Pete and I have had over a decade of exchanges on this topic, including his 2013 article about TKMS's involvement in Kockums, which I called 'the Kockums-block'.
Singapore has a long military export relationship with Sweden, going back to the 1970s, and specifically with Kockums - Singapore purchased four new Landsort-class mine countermeasure vessels in 1991, the Bedok-class, followed by four Challenger-class submarines (actually five, the last boat was used as a parts donor) in 1995 and the two Archer-class boats in 2005. Kockums was sold to TKMS in 2005, as part of the HDW group.
Kockums had one project with the Swedish Navy in the 2000s, the Visby-class corvettes, so its export work for Singapore (including 4 Kockums V4-275R Stirling Engines) kept the company in the black until the long-delayed A26 project started, with Sweden signing a contract with Kockums in 2010.
By 2014 two facts emerged:
1. In December 2013, Singapore selected TKMS to build two submarines (eventually the 4 Invincibles), the only other bidder was Naval Group. Kockums was 'not allowed' to bid.
2. Russia annexed Crimea, causing every nation in Europe to reevaluate their military, and Sweden suddenly discovered that after three years, there was nothing done by Kockums with the A26 except glitzy marketing graphics.
My own belief is that Singapore would eventually invest in the A26 project (potentially worth US$2-3 billion then) - but the 'Kock-up' torpedoed this investment, leading to the Swedish government raid on Kockums in May 2014 and its eventual sale to Saab.
An overall explanation of this situation, which led to Saab purchasing Kockums from TKMS, from the Swedish side, can be read here.
At the end of all this, Singapore acquired 4 next-generation submarines from TKMS, and still works with Saab Kockums, for the composite superstructure of the Independence-class LMV and the overall design concept of the upcoming MRCV, as well as delivering six composite superstructures.
2 comments:
Hi Shawn
Its useful that TKMS has been completing the Invincibles in time to replace the two aging Archer class - as the Archers were originally launched as Västergötlands in 1986-1987. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archer-class_submarine
In retrospect Singapore made the correct decision buying the current technology Invincibles from Germany rather than risking lateness and cost overruns with new technology A26s from Sweden.
4 x A26s for Singapore would have most probably been launched AFTER Sweden's launch of the first 2 Blekinges (for the Swedish Navy) now delayed until 2027/28 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blekinge-class_submarine . So any Singaporean A26s might have been launched in the 2030s.
Cheers Pete
Hi again Shawn
Your additional comments in the article text on the Kockums vs TKMS commercial confrontation are interesting.
Using https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_Kockums#The_submarine_conflict
"In 1999, following the acquisition of Celsius AB by Saab, Kockums was sold to the German shipbuilding company HDW. In 2005, HDW was bought by the German industrial conglomerate Thyssen Krupp.[5] The time after 1999 was rife with conflicts between Kockums' only Swedish customer, the Defence Materiel Administration (FMV), and Kockums' German owners. The Swedish view was that the technical advancements made in collaboration between Kockums and FMV ought to be used to create a new generation of submarine for lucrative export: the A26 submarine. On the German side, the A26 project was said to be regarded as a high-risk project that could lead to uncontrollably growing costs.[6] Superficially, the major source of conflict seemed[according to whom?] to be that neither ThyssenKrupp nor FMV would accept carrying unforeseen development costs. As several technical innovations to be implemented in the A26 were kept in classified status at the FMV, ThyssenKrupp argued that the implied costs were too difficult to predict. This deadlock persisted for months until the FMV decided to cancel the order of the A26 submarines.[citation needed]
Globally, the conflict also concerned its general business strategy. ThyssenKrupp insisted that Kockums ought to discontinue large submarine construction and to focus on the development of small submarines. Meanwhile, anonymous sources from inside Kockums claimed that ThyssenKrupp's goal in acquiring Kockums was never to reach synergies with HDW, but only to eliminate its main competitor.[5]"
With Saab-Kockums delaying the A26 "Blekinge-class" for years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blekinge-class_submarine:
"These were to be delivered no later than 2022, a date subsequently pushed back, initially to 2024–25[11] and subsequently even further to 2027–28"
This delay must have indeed generated "uncontrollably growing costs" for Saab-Kockums and ultimately for the Swedish government/navy customer.
Seems Saab-Kockums is just too small with too few orders to compete against European submarine builders TKMS and Naval Group.
And now South Korea's Hanwha Ocean (and HHI) are becoming hot competitors to Saab-Kockums in Hanwha offering 2,000 or 3,000 tonne subs to Poland.
Regards Pete
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