Royal Canadian Navy Discussions and updates

John Fedup

The Bunker Group
The KSS III has some strong selling points...

- Having a crew size of 30 and individual bunks for 50 are some pretty impressive numbers for a sub of this size.
- An aggressive timeline for first delivery in 6 years from contract and 1 per year there after.
- A proven in-production design de-risks the program.
- Submerged over 3 weeks and 7000nm another big plus.

A negative is the location of the build being in a potential hot zone.
Fair point wrt hot zone but if the PRC moves against Taiwan in the next 2-3 years, who knows what kind of $hit Putin stirs up amongst the only other potential supplier region.
 

spoz

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
The KSS III has some strong selling points...

- Having a crew size of 30 and individual bunks for 50 are some pretty impressive numbers for a sub of this size.
- An aggressive timeline for first delivery in 6 years from contract and 1 per year there after.
- A proven in-production design de-risks the program.
- Submerged over 3 weeks and 7000nm another big plus.

A negative is the location of the build being in a potential hot zone.
An Oberon had a range of over 10,000 nm and could remain submerged for up to 90 days……
 

John Fedup

The Bunker Group
An Oberon had a range of over 10,000 nm and could remain submerged for up to 90 days……
Apparently a range advantage for Oberon but the ninety days submerged is with snorkeling I assume. The 3 week time for KSS III is using AIP/Li ion battery storage only. It has a snorkel also, I would think?
 

Sender

Active Member
An Oberon had a range of over 10,000 nm and could remain submerged for up to 90 days……
That quoted range of 7000 nm is only what the RCN published as the minimum in the RFI. The range of a KSS-111 batch 1 is said to be 10,000 nm. Batch 2 is said to be more, but finding published specs for the Batch 2 range are difficult. I've seen speculation on other forums that 12-15K is likely. That seems reasonable, given the Batch 2 is 20 feet longer and several hundred tons heavier than the Batch 1.

 
I don't think it is especially productive to compare marketing/classified range/speed figures that aren't even at a relevant baseline for comparison in the first place. The Oberon's were great boats for the time however, it is rather silly to put them in the same category as a large, cutting edge AIP/Li conventional boat.

As for the addition of VLS, I don't think SLBM's are an especially vital procurement for Canada, but the VLS opens up a lot of potential options. You are able to keep your torpedo magazine largely free from cruise and anti-ship missiles if you can offload them into the VLS, giving you more room for torpedoes or other systems launched from the primary tubes. It seems that only the SLBM is integrated by the Koreans into the VLS right now, however those cells are by their nature very large and can accommodate likely whatever we want, domestic Korean or international weapon systems.

The ability for Canadian submarines to operate internationally or domestically with the option to launch a variety of strike systems very much complicates the equation for our enemies and gives the Canadian govt countless additional options. A hypothetical Canadian submarine stationed out in the Baltic would potentially be able to provide the Army contingent in Latvia with heavy fire support at relatively short notice.
 
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