MAGURO CLASS SUBMARINE
Price (Unit): N$D 1 100 000 000
Maguro (Tuna) class submarine has been created to complement TBA class submarine, due to enormous cost required to build a TBA class submarine. Significant part of the project was done in cooperation with Werhner-Noah Maritime Works from Aravea where it is known as Narva class. Sonar suite was designed in cooperation with Kirishinan companies.
Overview:
- The hull has been arranged in teardrop shape, resembling body of a whale, a bit flattened at the tip to produce lower wake signature while traversing at low depth. Engineers of Fujita Naval Group decided that the hull should be produced of HY-156 steel, allowing theoretical dive to as deep as 300 meters, while providing the submarine with low magnetic signature. At the rear were placed four X - shaped rudders, with additional pair of horizontal fins mounted at the front. Above the rear fins a single tube housing towed array was placed, to prevent towed cable from falling into propulsion system. In the middle of the hull is mounted the sail, which also features horizontal stabilizers. Behind it are mounted 10 VLS tubes, capable of housing both cruise, anti - ship or anti - submarine missiles. Sail's top is used as an escape capsule, detaching itself from the rest of the hull. In total, crew can be numbered around 28 men due to heavy automatization; when the need comes, it may however go to as much as 60.
- The submarine has been from beginning optimized for great reduction of acoustic signature, allowing it to stay virtually undetected. Plenty of rubber mounting and baffles were included during the construction in order to minimize the noise coming from own operating gear, alongside with the space between frames being filled with damping plates. Entire hull has been covered with anechoic tiles to reduce effectiveness of enemy's active sonar. Additional coatings also reduce the magnetic signature and IR signature, in addition to externally - guided anti - MAD system designed to operate in every geographical spectrum.
Propulsion:
- Maguro is propelled by a single KJ - XII IVth generation lead bismuth fast reactor with 210 MW power mounted within it's hull, using a mixture of lead and bismuth as heat exchange material instead of water. KJ - XI operates on closed fuel cycle, which allows it to have enormous lifespan (over 30 years). Lead works as excellent gamma ray shield, deflecting neutrons escaping the core. The reactor features series of innovative solutions that allowed it to function properly; to prevent corrosion of elements drowned in molten lead, core mean outlet operates at reduced temperature of just 480* and all mechanism are outside the coolant. Aluminium was chosen as material for heat transfer surfaces. To counter the issue posed by large mass of lead, the reactor vessel has been made shorter, thus dispensing the weight (which forced increase of weight of the submarine itself, but to considerable extent). As material to generate the power, enriched uranium-225 is used. KJ - XII reactor, while a bit costly, offers a lot of advantages over traditional water - cooled nuclear reactor, although posing also some potential problems. One of major advantages is the ability to change whole core instead of refuelling it, which increases lifetime of KJ - XII and reduces costs of operating at the same time - especially recommended for countries with lack of nuclear infrastructure on their own. In addition Lead Bismuth fast reactor is much safer than water - cooled reactor since it can't cause explosion because lead quickly solidifies in cause of leak, thus preventing the potential explosion and does not require electricity to cool it down after shut-down. Major problems however with this reactor are the solidifying of lead, making KJ - XII require constant maintenance by qualified personnel. Another issue can be bismuth's transmutation to highly radioactive Polonium, which has however been highly reduced by high automation of the reactor operations. In addition upon order there is a chance to replace KJ - XII with another reactor of the client's choice, which however will require extra costs to cover design changes.
- The reactor is connected via shaft to a seven bladed propeller.
Electronic:
- Crew of Maguro class operates various C4ISR systems, allowing them for quicker data transfer. Those include:
- Washi Hamoni-12 command and control (C2) system gathering and processing data from all important components of submarine. Hydroacoustics, radars, optics, ESM, navigation and other important systems are being gathered and processed through this system. On basis of this data the system can determine exact speed, trajectory and distance of target. The data are display on LCD screen on the bridge, alongside with other control terminals.
- Sogeki - Hei 8 weapon control system for command and control (C2) of the attack. Sogeki - Hei 8 has both the cruise missiles, torpedoes and counter - measures linked to it and can be used in both manned and automatic version.
- Washi Fukai 2 navigation and course control system. Fukai 2 is capable of controlling the speed, depth and course as well as planing and executing, both manually or automatically, advanced maneuverers.
- Washi Doramu 5 is a control system responsible for digital control of ship's machinery.
- Washi N121 is a noise monitoring system tasked with monitoring own noise of the submarine and practical reduction of it to remain stealthy.
- Sonar suite is composed of:
- WA 49-0 passive/ active low frequency active spherical array sonar operating on very low frequency.
- Two side WA 38 flank array sonar systems operating on high frequency, for observing targets on the sides of the submarine, built out of operating on bandwidth below 3200 Hz is composed of ultra - thin panels and features very efficient system responsible for filtering out submarine's own noise. Bearing accuracy is approximately 1*.
- WS - 9101 towed array sonar, employing series of high - technology passive hydrophones mounted on an hose that comes up to 800 meters of length, towed behind the submarine, thus operating outside it's own noise, greatly increasing the submarine's passive detection ability. WS - 9101 incorporates a modular structure that allows it to be configured to bandwidth that the customer requires for his submarines. The hydrophones allow for detection of targets 360* around the submarine with ~ 1 meter accuracy. Processing of the data gathered by WS - 9101 is carried out inside the submarine by a series of highly advanced computers.
- WS - 0102 mine & obstacle detection sonar has been mounted. Operating on very low frequency between 36 kHz to 72 kHz, WS - 0102 covers around one kilometer diameter, mapping the operational environment real time in 3D, and keeping the submarine safe from collisions. It's field of view is enough to cover 90 degree area at the submarine's front, while the elevation coverage can be adjusted from 6* to 24*.
- W- 12 intercept array sonar with 90km range at 5 kHz frequency, and an W - IFF - 21 Identifiation friend or foe system built by the same company.
Maguro class features 7 spots for masts:
- Funryu Type 2 Mark 2 Model 1 is a non - hull breaching mast housing radar operating in I - band. The antenna itself features end fed slotted line array and horizontal polarization. Another important features are low electricity consumption, low signature and short - medium pulse lengths. Funryu can track up to 50 targets, and possess target acquisition capability argumented by selectable zone mode.
- Funryu F1 is an non - hull penetrating optronic mast currently in use on Ha - 2008 incorporating a whole array of sensors used to detect enemy platforms which include thermal IR, true HD imagining CCTV and ESM systems mounted inside. Responsible for wide range of observation is mounted on 3d stabilization axis. Mast is equipped with an Advanced Man / Machine interface which makes it simple to use and provides quick data analysis on demand. Due to structure possessing low RCS / acoustic and visual signatures, the mast can easily be employed without revealing the submarine's location. Maximal employment speed is 12 knots, 16 is maximum survival. Two such masts are mounted on the submarine; one for the crew, second for captain.
- Hisakwa H 812 snorkelling mast equipped with gas exhaust valve system, with increased durability.
- Funryu F28 is a multifunction communications anetnna, composed of 5 units (antenna, junction box, external cable, hull penetrator and control unit). The antenna itself contains four high frequency receivers (HF/VHF, UHF, IFF and AXISAT). Mast allows to communicate from low angle and is capable to be used simultaneously at the same time.
- New addition to the submarine's intelligence gathering capabilities is the Yamakusa Kagekame (Shadow Turtle) multi purpose buoy, designed especially for high - threat environments, where likeness of submarine's detection is enormous. Kamekage is connected to the submarine with two - way fiber optic cable, providing swift transfer of data, and can be equipped with multiple devices, including, but not limited to, communications devices, electronic warfare gear, AXISAT positioning system or TV/IR camera for observation of surface contacts at any time of the day, etc. To minimize the chance of detection, main body - being about a 1.6 meter tall and one in diameter - was optimized for low RCS and low wake signature, usually being pained in dark blue colour to avoid contrasting with the sea, even though only top part - roughly several centimeters - actually finds itself above sea level. Successfully recovery tests have been performed on speed as much as 4 knots. Communications variant can sustain as much as 2200 ping seconds of transit using lithium - ion batteries after being detached and operates on frequency of 1.8 kHz. Other choice in communications buoy involves Yamakusa 8P2 communications buoy, which is a towed, expendable two way communications buoy operating usually at 1.8 kHz frequency to communicate between submarine and land based systems. The buoy itself is only 25 centimeters in length when combined with the submarine launch vehicle (SLV). Being able to be deployed from as much as 250 meters, 8P2 heads up to the surface where it can remain active for 72 hours of operation or 1800 total ping seconds of transmit using lithium batteries. Total custom programming capability allows the operator to set up the broadcast at time when the submarine will be far away, denying the enemy chance to detect it's location, with expandable cable connecting the submarine to buoy extending for several miles. This system is extremely important for any submarine, due to ability to transmit data between the C4ISTAR assets and the launch platform. Both systems can be easily attached to the sail or deck without disturbing the structure in any way.
Armament:
- Armaments consist of 5x 533mm torpedo tubes, carrying up to 25 torpedoes/missiles inside the tubes, all of them drained by gravity to suppress eventual noise and loaded through designated hatch in the hull from vertical position, then slid down horizontal on the rack, allowing easy resupply at sea. Ten VLS tubes were mounted behind the sail, housing choice composition of anti - ship / cruise or anti - submarine missiles.
- In addition, to fulfil several separate tasks, Maguro class has been outfitted with two additional measures to defend itself. First is SAMast 8, a mast with a box launcher for 4 Type 5 Rakurai MANPADS coupled with an IR camera, allowing the submarine to fire them from under the water, engaging eventual ASW helicopters. Second, optional includes 25×137 mm recoilless canon mounted on a mast, intended for navies that require it's use in anti - pirate or anti - smuggling operations, or in need of defence against small surface threats.
Countermeasures:
- The submarine is also equipped with system of acoustic countermeasures mounted in special tubes on the fins and within the superstructure, called WaShi WSC - 03. The system is composed of the launchers releasing so called effectors into the water, as well as an integrated Command & Control system that automatically detects the torpedo, calculates safest escape route while at command releases the countermeasure. Codenamed WS - M - 7, said countermeasure is stored externally and launched on operator's command. 100 mm in diameter and 1100mm long, WS - M - 7 moves onto depth pre - selected by the operator via it's own contra - propeller motor, then hovers on said depth. Equipped with an acoustic projector, WS - M - 7 causes the enemy torpedo to "see" multiple false targets forcing it to home on them, allowing the real submarine to escape. Being completely user programable, WS - M - 7 can be programmed for any mission until the launch, then it executes the task and falls onto the bottom of the sea once it is completed.
MAGURO CLASS NUCLEAR ATTACK SUBMARINE
- Length: 99.5 meters.
- Beam: 9 meters.
- Total Height: 15 meters.
- Displacement: 5300 tons.
- Armaments:
- 5x 533mm torpedo tube
- 10x VLS cell
- SAMast 8 with 4x Type 5 Rakurai MANPADS- Propulsion: 1x Nuclear lead-bismuth reactor + seven bladed propeller.
- Operational Range: Unlimited.
- Endurance: Unlimited, 90 day supplies for the crew.
- Maximum Speed: 30 knots.
- Test Depth: 300 meters.
- Complment: 28 to 60 sailors.