By Kris Osborn, Warrior
Fast, quiet and able to launch undersea drones are a few of the qualities of the highly anticipated Swedish Royal Navy’s Blekinge-class submarines, an emerging class of new attack boats slated to emerge by 2028.
The development of the new submarines are marked by years of uncertainty and change, as various countries such as Germany, have considered collaboration and dual-construction. As a result, the ship operated with many stops and starts, ultimately resulting in delays of the boat’s delivery.
At one point, the submarine’s builder Kockums was acquired by Germany’s ThyssenKrupp, and there were considerations of a collaborative German-Swedish effort to build the submarines. Initially, the Swedish government refused to collaborate and then ultimately ordered two of the submarines. Then, Kockums became part of a Swedish company called Saab Kockums and the submarines have been in development ever since. The delivery dates have shifted back several times, changing from 2022 to 2028 for various reasons, yet the boats are nonetheless highly anticipated.
The new Blekinge-class submarines are intended as a upgraded variant of Sweden’s Gotland-class submarine, a group of boats which have been approaching obsolescence for many years now. Interestingly, the Blekinge-class submarines, will operate with an ultra-quiet Air Independent Propulsion system designed for both close-in coastal attack and large, open or “blue-water” maritime warfare.
Swedish Submarines
There is great tactical and strategic value for Sweden to operate ultra-quiet submarines along the Russian coastline in the Baltic Sea, as the new boats could perform reconnaissance, undersea targeting and attack operations in the event of a major conflict with Russia. Given its AIP quieting technology, the Swedish boat would likely be positioned to be extremely effective against Russian surface ships and also potentially capable of rivalling Russia’s advanced fleet of AIP-driven submarines. The Blekinge-class submarines are also being built with what is called Genuine Holistic Stealth (GHOST) for additional quieting capability and special reinforcement to enable the boat to survive underwater explosions.
Perhaps the most cutting edge element of the Blekinge-class is the extent to which its torpedo tubes will launch and recover Unmanned UnderSea Vehicles, something of great tactical significance. Submarine-launched drones able to deploy from beneath the surface can massively increase a boat’s stealth characterics and minimize detection possibilities by virtue of not having to surface.
Unmanned Underwater Vehicles
There are a wide range of UUVs being developed by the US Navy, and it may not yet be clear what undersea drones the Swedish are planning, however the possibilities are wide-ranging. Submarine launch-tube launched underwater drones could be used for high-risk surveillance missions searching for mines, enemy submarines and surface ships without placing host-submarines in jeopardy of attack. Tube-launched undersea drones could also be armed with weapons and be programmed to approach and attack a specific enemy ship or submarine when directed by a human. UUVs can therefore operate as weapons and be sent to fire upon or explode an enemy ship or submarine without giving away the location of the host submarine.
The challenge with undersea drones is simply one of transport layer communication and data transmission. The US Navy, for example, continues to make breakthroughs developing technologies able to “send,” “transmit” sensor data obtained by UUVs enabling a tetherless “real-time” information exchange. This can be quite difficult undersea as most RF signals simply do not work under the surface, so UUVs have typically had to “gather” information and then download upon return to the host ship. This is, however, changing quickly as innovations continue to uncover new technologies capable of real-time data transmission under the water. The US Navy’s Barracude UUV, for example, is programmed to wirelessly detect, verify and explode an enemy mine in real-time, without needing human intervention.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University
