Navy

The Advanced Thinking Behind Sweden’s New A-26 Submarine

The Swedish Navy’s submarines are famous for their stealth. This was amply demonstrated in 2006 when Sweden loaned one of its subs, HMS Gotland, to the U.S. Navy. The AIP (Air Independent Power) equipped submarine repeatedly avoided detection. And it was able to score notable ‘victories’ against an Aircraft Carrier during exercises.

Sweden's next type of submarine, the A-26 Blekinge Class, promises to take stealth to another level. And not just by even quieter AIP. One of its secret ingredients will be uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs). These are basically robot submarines that can allow the submarine to remain hidden while taking the fight to the enemy.

The UUVs can perform many missions traditionally done by the submarine itself. And also missions which a full-size submarine could not be used. The first set of missions assigned to these robots is likely to be ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance). For example the UUV might swim ahead of the submarine and use a electro-optical mast (like a modern periscope) to observe an enemy port.