from:http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htsub/articles/20050924.aspx
Russian Replacement for the Kilo ClassSeptember 24, 2005: Russia is about to commission into service a replacement for its Kilo class diesel-electric subs. The new class is the Lada (or Amur, for export versions). With all the new money the navy is getting, there are now plans to establish a unit of six (or more) Ladas in the Baltic in the next few years.
The Ladas are designed to be fast attack and scouting boats. They are intended for anti-surface and anti-submarine operations as well as naval reconnaissance.
These boats are said to be eight times quieter than the Kilos. This was accomplished by using anechoic (sound absorbing) tile coatings on the exterior, and a very quiet (skewed) propeller. All interior machinery was designed with silence in mind. The sensors include active and passive sonars, including towed passive sonar. The Ladas have six 533mm torpedo tubes, with 18 torpedoes and/or missiles carried. The Lada has a surface displacement of 1,750 tons, are 220 feet long and carry a crew of 41. Each crewmember has their own cabin (very small for the junior crew, but still, a big morale boost). When submerged, the submarine can cruise at a top speed of about 39 kilometers an hour (half that on the surface) and can dive to about 800 feet. The Lada can can stay at sea for as long as 50 days, and the sub can travel as much as 10,000 kilometers using its diesel engine (underwater, via the snorkel) Submerged, using battery power, the Lada can travel about 450 kilometers.
There is also an electronic periscope (which goes to the surface via a cable), that includes a night vision capability and a laser range finder. The Lada was designed to accept a AIP (air independent propulsion) system. Russia was long a pioneer in AIP design, but recently Western European nations have taken the lead. Construction on the first Lada began in 1997, but money shortages delayed work for years. The first Amur boat is under construction, and more Ladas will be laid down next year.
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from:http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/row/rus/677.htm
Project 677 Lada class
Project 1650 Amur class
Diesel-Electric Torpedo Submarine
The new, fourth postwar generation Project 677 Lada class diesel-electric submarine is a successor to the Type 877EKM and Type 636 Kilo-class submarines. The Lada type is significantly smaller (1,600 tons D/W) than the previous Kilo type submarines (2,325 tons D/W), and generally configured for anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare, minelaying and special forces deployment.
The Project 1650 Amur, intended for export, is part of the same project and differ only in customer requirements and operational conditions. In 1989 the Rubin Marine Design Bureau in St. Petersburg was commissioned by the Russian Navy to design a new fourth-generation diesel-electric submarine. Rubin completed design work on a whole family of the Amur diesel-electric submarines with a displacement of 550 to 1,850 tons. The designers adopted essentially the same design and layout solutions for entire submarines and their separate subsystems, using unified or modified equipment.
The Amur class will also include provisions for a fuel cell plant that can be installed during construction or modernisation to give air independent propulsion with oxygen/hydrogen and electric/ chemical generators. However, the first submarines of the type will not be powered with such a plant. The reason is high cost of air-indipendent power plants, as well as higher level of fire safety required to operate them. The submarines powered with air-indipendent power plants may appear in the market not earlier than by 2003-2004. . According to estimates, Kristall-27E AIP system will increase the Amur Class submarines’ submerged endurance by 15 to 45 days (the longer endurance is ensured by a short-term operation of the diesel engine in the snorkeling mode).
The submarines will have high submerged cruising range and endurance, combat efficiency and reliability, and low acoustic signature. The Amur is intended to be the most advanced export design to date, incorporating many of the signature-reduction technologies proven on the Project 636 Kilo, notably anechoic tile coatings and a skewed seven-bladed propeller. Their sonar equipment includes highly sensitive direct-listening transducers at the forward end and a towed transducer array. It will be outfitted with six torpedo tubes, and its 18 weapons will comprise a mix of torpedoes and torpedo-tube launched missiles. Measuring 67 metres in length and 7.2 metres wide, It will include an anechoic tile coating on the outer hull and a skewed 7-blade propeller. The vessel's surface speed will be 10 kt; submerged 21 kt. The submerged cruising range using economic speed is 500 nautical miles at 3 kt. The maximum diving depth is 250 m, with an endurance of 45 days with a crew of 34.
As of mid-1999 no customer had been found for the Amur 1650-class export submarine laid down at Admiralty Shipyard on 26 December 1997, as India had apparently decided it was not interested in the boat. The similar Lada-class (some sources consider this to be a Project 877 boat) Sankt Petersburg was begun the same day at the same facility for the Russian Navy.
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from:http://feeds.theeuropenews.net/?rid=c44928f53088049a&cat=88176adfdf246af5&f=1
Venezuela Shops For Politically Correct Weapons October 3, 2005: President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has caused quite a bit of heartburn in the region because of his leftist politics. Chavez has become quite chummy with communist dictator Fidel Castro of Cuba, and is now taking a page from the Cold War playbook by turning to Russia for weapons. Unlike Cuba, Venezuela has lots of oil money, and the Russians are eagerly offering Chavez just about anything he wants. Chavez wants three more submarines, and the Russians are hot to find export customers for their new Lada (replacement form the Kilo) diesel electric boats.
These subs are said to be eight times quieter than the Kilos. This is accomplished by using anechoic (sound absorbing) tile coatings on the exterior, and a very quiet (skewed) propeller. All interior machinery is designed with silence in mind. The sensors include active and passive sonars, including towed passive sonar. The Ladas have six 533mm torpedo tubes, with 18 torpedoes and/or anti-ship missiles carried. The Lada has a surface displacement of 1,750 tons, are 220 feet long and carry a crew of 41. When submerged, the submarine can cruise at a top speed of about 39 kilometers an hour (half that on the surface) and can dive to about 800 feet. The Lada can can stay at sea for as long as 50 days, and the sub can travel as much as 10,000 kilometers using its diesel engine (underwater, via the snorkel) Submerged, using battery power, the Lada can travel about 450 kilometers. There is also an electronic periscope (which goes to the surface via a cable), that includes a night vision capability and a laser range finder. The Lada was designed to accept a AIP (air independent propulsion) system. Russia was long a pioneer in AIP design, but recently Western European nations have taken the lead.
The other two competitors for this sale are the French Scorpene and the German Type 212. Venezuela already has two older German Type 209s. The Germans and French have an advantage in their boats have been on the market for a while, and have a successful track record. Russia has just finished construction of its first Lada.
The Russian advantage is price. If equipped with AIP (Air Independent Propulsion, that allows the subs to cruise submerged and very silent for weeks at a time), the coast per Scorpene or Type 212 is about half a billion dollars each. The Russians can offer the same type of deal for at least a hundred million dollars less per boat. Since Chavez is looking more to score political points, than making a prudent procurement decision, this gives the Russians an inside track. Russia has an export model of the Lada, called the Amur, and this is what is being offered to Venezuela. The navy is the most pro-Chavez of the armed services, and Chavez has been particularly cozy with some of the senior naval officers.
The thought of two AIP boats in the hands of such a rabid anti-American as Chavez gives U.S. admirals a bad feelings. AIP equipped subs are believed to be a bigger threat to American warships than nuclear subs, especially in coastal waters. Venezuela already has experienced submarine sailors because of the two Type 209 boats they have had since the 1970s. The two German boats are being refurbished, to extend their useful life another ten years. Thus Venezuela could end up with a force of five modern submarines if they make the purchase.