Russian Shipbuilder Outlines Concept of Future Submarines

[tom dougherty]

MOSCOW, November 11 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s fifth-generation strategic and attack submarines will most likely be non-nuclear-powered, more compact and less “visible,” a senior designer at the Rubin design bureau said Monday. Large nuclear-powered vessels, including Russia’s Typhoon-class strategic boats, have so far dominated past and current trends in combat submarine construction.

“I believe future submarines will be smaller, because of the use of more advanced technologies as well as the pursuit of more cost-effective production,” Sergei Sukhanov said in an exclusive interview with RIA Novosti. “The fifth-generation boat will also be less ‘visible’ compared with existing submarines. They could also feature a new power plant, including fully electric,” Sukhanov said, adding that changes could affect other sub-systems of future submarines.

The designer said the most likely substitution for a nuclear reactor on strategic and attack submarines would be an air-independent propulsion plant (AIPP), which would make them stealthier than nuclear-powered boats. The AIPP allows a non-nuclear submarine to operate without the need to access atmospheric oxygen. While a nuclear submarine’s reactor must constantly pump coolant, generating some amount of detectable noise, non-nuclear boats running on battery power or AIPP can be practically “silent.”
https://Russian Shipbuilder Outlines...tack Submarine

[JWLaRue]

Re: Russian Shipbuilder Outlines Concept of Future Submarines

Interesting….

I seem to recall reading that Soviet/Russian nuclear submarines utilized a passive cooling capability that eliminated the coolant pumps for low speed operation.

Seems like this may be in part a rationale for lack of funding as much as anything…

-Jeff