Astute-class submarine 1

Astute-class submarine

HMS Ambush on sea trials in December 2012Class overview

Builders: BAE Systems Submarine Solutions

Operators:

Royal Navy

Preceded by: Trafalgar class

Cost: £1,160M each (boats 1-3), £747M each (boats 4-6)[1]

Built: 2001–present

In commission: 2010–present

Building: 4

Planned: 7

Completed: 2

Active: 2

General characteristicsClass & type: Nuclear-powered fleet submarine

Displacement: 7,000 tonnes, surfaced7,400 tonnes, submerged[2]

Length: 97 m (323 ft)

Beam: 11.3 m (37 ft)

Draught: 10 m (33 ft)

Propulsion: Rolls-Royce PWR 2 reactor, MTU 600 kilowatt diesel generators

Speed: Up to 30 knots (56 km/h), submerged[3]

Range: Only limited by food and maintenance requirements.

Test depth: Over 300 m

Complement: 98 (capacity for 109)

Sensors andprocessing systems:

• Thales Sonar 2076• Atlas DESO 25 echosounder• 2 x Thales CM010 optronic masts• Raytheon Successor IFF

Astute-class submarine 2

Armament: 6 x 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes with stowage for up to 38 weapons;•• Tomahawk Block IV land-attack cruise missiles• Spearfish wire-guided heavyweight torpedoes[4]

The Astute class is the latest class of nuclear-powered fleet submarines in service with the British Royal Navy. Theclass sets a new standard for the Royal Navy in terms of weapons load, communication facilities and stealth. Theboats are being constructed by BAE Systems Submarine Solutions at Barrow-in-Furness.[] Seven boats will beconstructed. The first of class, Astute, was launched in 2007 and commissioned in 2010, and the second, Ambush,was launched on 6 January 2011,[] and commissioned on 1 March 2013.[]

DevelopmentThe Royal Navy has changed its submarine-employment strategy from the Cold War emphasis on anti-submarinewarfare to the concept of "Maritime Contributions to Joint Operations." [] Approval for studies to define the "Batch 2Trafalgar class" (what would become the Astute class) was given in June 1991. In July 1994 risk reduction studieswere authorised in parallel with the formal bid phase of the project.[5] On 17 March 1997, the Ministry of Defenceannounced that it would place a £2 billion order for three submarines and that they would be called the Astute class.On 26 March 1997 the contract was signed with GEC-Marconi for the first three boats: Astute, Ambush and Artful.These names were last given to Amphion-class submarines that entered service towards the end of World War II.GEC would build the submarines at its VSEL subsidiary (now BAE Systems Submarine Solutions).Original plans were for seven boats of the Astute class to replace five Swiftsure-class submarines (Sovereign, Superb,Sceptre, Spartan, and Splendid) and the two oldest Trafalgar-class boats (Trafalgar and Turbulent). The Swiftsureclass entered service between 1973 and 1977 and were entirely decommissioned by 2010, when only the first of theAstute class was coming into service. Trafalgar was decommissioned in December 2009, to be followed byTurbulent in 2011.[6] An estimated 5,900 people are employed directly as a result of the project; 3,500 BAE Systemsstaff at Barrow and 2,400 other people around the UK.[]

As of August 2006 BAE Systems was negotiating for a contract to build another four Astute-class submarines (hullsfour to seven).[7] The fourth boat was ordered on 21 May 2007, to be called Audacious, and the names of the otherhulls have been agreed as Agamemnon, Anson, and Ajax.[8] On 15 September 2011 it was announced that hull 5would now be named Anson.[9] Upon the beginning of sea trials of Astute in November 2009, it was reported thatlong-lead items for hulls five and six have been ordered, including their nuclear reactor cores, and that the statedintention of the MoD was for a total of seven Astute-class submarines.[10] On 25 March 2010, BAE Systems weregiven the go-ahead by the government to begin construction on hulls 5 and 6, being given a £300 million contract forthe "initial build" of hull five and "long lead procurement activities" for boat six.[11] In the same week thegovernment re-affirmed their commitment to the construction of seven Astute-class submarines.Work on the second and third submarines, Ambush and Artful, proceeded well with major milestones such as theclosure of Ambush's reactor compartment, demonstrating significant schedule advance compared with Astute. BAESystems and the MoD have made efforts to reduce costs and achieved significant cost-cutting and productivitygains.[] A £580 million cost increase was agreed in 2007 due to maturing of the design requiring more materials,inflationary costs, and "some programme throughput assumptions at the Barrow site not being borne out."[5]

First-of-class HMS Astute was launched by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall on 8 June 2007.[]

The order of seven Astute-class boats was confirmed in the Strategic Defence and Security Review of October 2010.In December that year it was confirmed by the MoD that "early work" was under way on boats five and six.[12]

On 13 October 2011, the fifth boat, Anson, was laid down at Devonshire Dock Hall and is now under construction like boats three and four. On 10 December 2012 the MOD awarded BAE a £1.2 billion contract for work on Audacious. The MOD also confirmed on the same date a further £1.5 billion funding for submarines Anson, Agamemnon and Ajax.[citation needed] The MOD Defence Equipment Plan 2012 refers to 'the completion of the

Astute-class submarine 3

remainder of the seven class of Astute attack submarines'.

Programme delaysBAE Systems issued a profit warning on 11 December 2002 as a result of the cost overruns and delays it wasexperiencing with the Astute class and also the Nimrod MRA4 maritime reconnaissance/attack aircraft.[13] The delaywas caused primarily by the problems of using 3D CAD; Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram said in 2006 that"due to the complexity of the programme, the benefits that CAD was envisaged to provide were more difficult torealise than either MoD or the contractor had assumed."[14] Other issues were the insufficient capabilities withinGEC-Marconi which became evident after contract-award and poor programme management.[][15][16] BAE and theMinistry of Defence reached an agreement in February 2003 whereby they would invest £250 million and £430million respectively to address the programme's difficulties.[5]

A major element of this was the enlisting of advice and expertise from General Dynamics Electric Boat.[17] TheMoD also signed a design and production drawing work contract through the U.S. Navy which ran from 2004 to2007.[18]

As of March 2008 the programme was 48 per cent (or £1.2 billion) over-budget and 47 months late.[5] Further delaysdue to a range of technical and programme issues brought the programme to a position of 57 months late and 53 percent (or £1.35 billion) over-budget by November 2009, with a forecast cost of £3.9 billion for the first three Astuteboats.[] In June 2012 the order was placed for the manufacture of the nuclear reactor for the seventh Astute-classsubmarine Ajax alongside the refurbishment of Rolls-Royce manufacturing facility in Raynesway, Derby and thedevelopment and production of the first reactor for the next generation of SSBN to replace the Vanguard class.[19]

Some serious quality assurance problems have been identified in the first boats built. Due to the failure of a pipe cap,made of incorrect material although construction records indicated the correct metal had been used, Astute wasforced to surface following a leak that was flooding a compartment. Other problems have been identified, includingthe wrong type of lead being used in a reactor instrument, and other quality issues leading to early corrosion ofcomponents.[][]

CharacteristicsThe boats of the Astute class are powered by a Rolls-Royce PWR2 (Core H) (a pressurised water) reactor and fittedwith a pump-jet propulsor. The PWR2 reactor was developed for the Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines. Asa result the new submarines are about 30 per cent larger than previous British fleet submarines, which were poweredby smaller diameter reactors. Like all Royal Navy submarines, the bridge fin of the Astute-class boats is speciallyreinforced to allow surfacing through ice caps. These submarines can also be fitted with a dry deck shelter whichallows special forces (e.g. SBS) to deploy whilst the submarine is submerged.[20]More than 39,000 acoustic tilesmask the vessel's sonar signature, giving the Astute class a better stealth quality than any other submarine previouslyoperated by the Royal Navy.[21] Speculation released by the media stated that by using advanced stealth technologyAstute "makes less noise than a baby dolphin, making her as good as undetectable by enemy ships."[22]

Astute is the first Royal Navy submarine class to have a bunk for each member of the ship's company,[23] ending thepractice of 'hot bunking', whereby two sailors on opposite watches shared the same bunk at different times. However,they have less mess-deck space than the Valiant-class submarine built 45 years earlier.[24][25]

The Royal Navy announced a speed of 29+ knots for the class, but it is reported this speed could not be reached inthe trials of Astute due to a propulsion design problem. It is unclear if this problem can be overcome, and at thelaunch of the Ambush the Royal Navy only stated she was "capable of speeds in excess of 20 knots".[][]

Astute-class submarine 4

Weapons and systems

The UK First Sea Lord, Admiral Stanhope (left),and US Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral

Jonathan Greenert (centre), are briefed by the CO(right) on the capabilities of Astute during thejoint exercise Fellowship 2012 between Astute

and New Mexico

The Astute class has stowage for 38 weapons and would typically carryboth Spearfish heavy torpedoes and Tomahawk Block IV cruisemissiles, the latter costing £870,000 each.[26] The Tomahawk missilesare capable of hitting a target to within a few metres within a range of1,240 miles[27] (2,000 km). The Astute class will also be able to fire thenew "tactical Tomahawk" currently under development. The AstuteCombat Management System is an evolved version of the SubmarineCommand System used on other classes of British submarine. Thesystem receives data from the boat's sensors and displays real timeimagery on all command consoles. The submarines also have AtlasHydrographic DESO 25 high-precision echosounders, two CM010non-hull-penetrating optronic masts—in place of conventionalperiscopes—which carry thermal imaging and low-light TV and colourCCD TV sensors.[28] The class also mounts a Raytheon Successor IFFsystem.

For detecting enemy ships and submarines the Astute class are equipped with the sophisticated Thales UnderwaterSystems Sonar 2076, an integrated passive/active search and attack sonar suite with bow, intercept, flank and towedarrays. BAE claims that the 2076 represents a "step change" over previous sonars and is the world's most advancedand effective sonar system.[29]

In 2012, during simulated battles with the United States Navys latest Virginia-class submarine (the USS NewMexico), it was reported that the Americans were "taken aback" by Astute's capabilities. Royal Navy Commander IanBreckenridge was quoted saying: “Our sonar is fantastic and I have never before experienced holding a submarine atthe range we were holding USS New Mexico. The Americans were utterly taken aback, blown away with what theywere seeing.”[30][31]

Boats of the classSome aspects of the later Astute-class submarines will be different from boats 1-3, mostly related to the combatsystem—primarily the command, navigation and sonar systems. Audacious is the first Royal Navy submarine whichuses a shared computer environment for the different systems, common consoles and cabinets, and commercial"off-the-shelf" hardware and software, to reduce costs and improve maintainability. These changes have beenback-fitted to boat 3, Artful; the eventual aim is to back-fit the "Common Combat System" to Astute and Ambush,and progressively to the rest of the Royal Navy submarine fleet.[32]

Name Hull Pennantnumber

Status Ordered Laid down Launched Date ofcommission

Astute 1 S119 Commissioned March1997

31 January2001

8 June 2007[33] 27 August 2010[]

Ambush 2 S120 Commissioned March1997

22 October2003

6 January2011[]

1 March 2013[34]

Artful 3 S121 Under construction March1997

11 March 2005 In service 2015[]

Audacious 4 S122 Under construction May 2007 24 March 2009 In service 2018[]

Anson 5 S123 Under construction[35] March2010

13 October2011

In service 2020[]

Astute-class submarine 5

Agamemnon 6 S124 Under construction[36] March2010

18 July 2013 In service 2022[]

Ajax 7 S125 Confirmed, long-lead itemsordered[37]

In service 2024[]

References[3] ASTUTE CLASS, Royal Navy (http:/ / www. royalnavy. mod. uk/ The-Fleet/ Submarines/ Fleet-Submarines/ Astute-Class)[5] National Audit Office Ministry of Defence Major Projects Report 2008: Project Summary Sheets (http:/ / www. nao. org. uk/ / idoc.

ashx?docId=c02da1c8-320b-4062-881d-2c24482459b5& version=-1) p.24[10] "Britain's £1.3bn new sub Astute sets sail" (http:/ / www. independent. co. uk/ news/ business/ analysis-and-features/

britains-16313bn-new-sub-astute-sets-sail-1821847. html) The Independent (17 November 2009)[16] National Audit Office Ministry of Defence Major Projects Report 2008: Project Summary Sheets (http:/ / www. nao. org. uk/ / idoc.

ashx?docId=c02da1c8-320b-4062-881d-2c24482459b5& version=-1) "Exceptional difficulties arose with the introduction of a computer aideddesign system, the availability of trained staff and project management"

[19] http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ news/ uk-18475108[23] Astute Fascinating Facts (http:/ / production. investis. com/ astute/ media/ press/ 2007-06-08a/ )[28] BBC News Scotland, A vision of evolving technologies (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 1/ hi/ scotland/ 6969958. stm) 30 August 2007, 13:06

GMT[30] US 'taken aback' by HMS Astute (http:/ / www. defencemanagement. com/ news_story. asp?id=19073)[31] Awesome Astute “Surpassed Every Expectation” on Her Toughest Test Yet (http:/ / www. royalnavy. mod. uk/ News-and-Events/

Latest-News/ 2012/ March/ 02/ 120302-Astute-Clyde)[32] BAE Systems News, 10 December 2012 (http:/ / www. astuteclass. com/ 2012/ 12/

bae-systems-awarded-1-2bn-contract-for-audacious-submarine/ )[35] Naval Ship Building (http:/ / www. navalshipbuilding. co. uk/ navalship_newsdetails. asp?newsID=1924& newsCatID=12) Boat 5 news[36] Sixth Astute Class submarine keel laid (https:/ / www. gov. uk/ government/ news/ sixth-astute-class-submarine-keel-laid)[37] UK: BAE Systems Secures $ 1.92 Bln Submarine Deal (http:/ / navaltoday. com/ 2012/ 12/ 11/

uk-bae-systems-secures-1-92-bln-submarine-deal/ )

External links• BAE Systems Astute Microsite (http:/ / www. astuteclass. com/ )• Cutaway Diagram(pdf) (http:/ / www. royalnavy. mod. uk/ upload/ pdf/ Astute_cutaway_image.

pdf)Wikipedia:Link rot• Naval Technology - Astute Clas (http:/ / www. naval-technology. com/ projects/ astute/ )• BAE Systems: Murray Easton Interview (http:/ / www. naval-technology. com/ features/ feature1224/ )• How to Build a Nuclear Submarine (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ programmes/ b00sz49v). BBC Television

documentary, first broadcast 27 June 2010.

Article Sources and Contributors 6

Article Sources and ContributorsAstute-class submarine  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=571091169  Contributors: 1exec1, Acaeton, Adeleander, Aidan Jennings, Albion05, AllStarZ, Andyaspden,Andysimo123, Anotherclown, Antarctic-adventurer, Antiochus the Great, Anyeverybody, August571, BadWolf42, Benea, Bgwhite, BlaiseFEgan, BobThePirate, Bobblewik, Brookie, Bryces,Chase me ladies, I'm the Cavalry, CrackDragon, Dan100, David Biddulph, David Newton, Dkohen, Dpaajones, DrFell, DragonHawk, Dsp13, DuncanHill, Dziban303, Eluchil404, Emoscopes,Frap, Gdr, GiorgiTu, Gogo Dodo, GraemeLeggett, Gwen-chan, H1523702, Haus, Hibernian, Ic451uk, Itai, J Milburn, JKBrooks85, Jean.julius, Jesperronn, Jim Sweeney, Jlang, John, JohnSmith's, John of Reading, Johnxxx9, Joly, Jonesey95, Kaihsu, Kurieeto, Le Deluge, Lightmouse, Los688, Lynbarn, MBK004, Marcus Qwertyus, Mark83, Maury Markowitz, Michael Hardy,MickMacNee, Mion, MrDolomite, N2e, N328KF, Neutrality, Nick Number, Nick-D, Nilmerg, Northfold, ObscureReality, Palfrey, Paul1776, Peter Harriman, Phd8511, Plasticup, Pmcm, Pol098,Qwfp, Rademire, Rave, Redf0x, Rees11, Rich Farmbrough, Rjanag, Rjwilmsi, Robert Merkel, Rwendland, Saə, Shem1805, Sietse Snel, Sp33dyphil, SpiderJon, Springnuts, SprintingSplinter,Steven Zhang, Stevvvv4444, Stringence, Subpots, Sullivan.t.j, Tarnish, Template namespace initialisation script, The Epopt, Thefreddy12354, Thiseye, Thom2002, Tide rolls, TomTheHand,Tpbradbury, Travisyoung, Tyrenius, Uk2030, Usergreatpower, WatcherZero, WeeWillieWiki, Woody, Yerkschmerk, 221 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and ContributorsFile:HMS Ambush.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:HMS_Ambush.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: LA(Phot) Will HaighFile:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Naval_Ensign_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors:AnonMoos, Avicennasis, Bender235, Cycn, Dancingwombatsrule, Ec.Domnowall, Fry1989, Homo lupus, Pumbaa80, Stunteltje, Xiengyod, Yaddah, 3 anonymous editsFile:US Navy 120126-N-WL435-305 First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff of the Royal Navy Adm. Sir Mark Stanhope, left, and Chief of Naval Operation.jpg  Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:US_Navy_120126-N-WL435-305_First_Sea_Lord_and_Chief_of_the_Naval_Staff_of_the_Royal_Navy_Adm._Sir_Mark_Stanhope,_left,_and_Chief_of_Naval_Operation.jpg License: Public Domain  Contributors: Benchill

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