HILLSTATION 1: October 2009

Friday 23 October 2009

Malaysia Royal Navy gets delivery Scorpene class sub

Submarines purchased through direct negotiations to protect defence system

Husna Yusup and Meena L Ramadas

Malaysia began negotiating for the acquisition of 2 submarines from Armaris of France and Navantia of Spain in 1998 and signed the 1.084 billion euro deal in June 2002. The deal provoked controversy when people who were involved in the deal filed a lawsuit against a friend of PM Najib Tun Razak, who was defence chief at the time had been designated as the main negotiating agent for the deal. The purchase was made without going through a tender.

The first submarine KD Tunku Abdul Rahman, a Scorpène class, docked at Port Klang on Sept 3 2009. The Malaysian Royal Navy announced that it may acquire more submarines in the future.

Monday 5 October 2009

Nuclear submarine collission: Vanguard and Le Triomphant

(Collision between a French submarine and a British submarine)

"They drive on the left side even down here?!"

Britain and France say two of their nuclear-armed submarines, HMS Vanguard (first photo) and Le Triomphant (second photo), collided while submerged in the Atlantic earlier this month. BBC News examines how and why this

happened, the BBC reported.

What happened?
The head of the UK's Royal Navy, Admiral Sir Jonathon Band, said HMS Vanguard and the French submarine, Le Triomphant, collided at slow speed while on separate routine patrols in the Atlantic Ocean.
Both submarines were badly damaged and had to return to port for repairs: HMS Vanguard (first photo) with what are described as visible dents and scrapes, Le Triomphant (second photo) with a damaged sonar dome.
[..] Factfile: How submarines use sonar [...]
A blog post on the collission here.

Faslane on the Clyde is to become the dedicated home for the UK's entire nuclear-powered submarine fleet in a shake-up of Royal Navy resources that will also bring the next generation of frigates to Portsmouth instead of Devonport.

All of Britain's nuclear-powered submarine force will relocate to the base north of Glasgow over the next few years in a move that guarantees the future of the 6,000-strong workforce at Faslane. It is hoped it will also mean jobs for hundreds more maintenance and support staff. Faslane already plays host to four Vanguard-class Trident nuclear-armed submarines.

Astute
From The Daily Telegraph:

"The Astute class submarines are the next-generation nuclear fleet submarines of the Royal Navy. When completed, the boats will set a new standard for the Royal Navy in terms of weapons load, improved communications facilities, stealth and comfort for the crew."

Trident

According to MoD:

The white paper said that designing and building four new submarines would cost between £11bn and £14bn. This is set against the estimated £70bn or more defence officials say the proposed replacement of the existing Trident system, including new missiles and warheads, would cost over its 30-year lifetime.