Russian Submarine Concept: Amur e600

An unusual and interesting design, the e600 is the latest submarine from Russian design bureau Rubin. Being a single-hull design it fits within the 'Amur' family. The distinctive features however are that it is all-electric (not diesel electric). Oh, and it has no sail.

The design concept was one of several revealed at the Army-2022 forum.

Rubin artwork

The removal of the main diesel generators (there is still a very small backup) allows the submarine to be much smaller. Displacement is reported to be just 600 tons. This is similar to some earlier Amur design concepts such as the Amur 550 (700 tons submerged).

The key to an all-electric propulsion is lithium based battery technologies. Russia has this technology, but has not applied it to submarines. (Note: there are rumors that the deep-diving submarine Losharik had Lithium-ion batteries and that these caused the fatal fire on July 1 2019.)

These give the submarine an endurance of 17 days.

The design emphasises sonar with a large array in the bow and three patch-style arrays along each side. There are 4 torpedo tubes in the bow. These appear to be external, in the sense that they do not penetrate the pressure hull. The masts fold down into the casing.

The concept model of the e600 at Army 2022. Photo Michael Jerdev (Twitter).

---

Related articles (Full index of popular Covert Shores articles)
Porpoise submarine concept (/Fredrik Granholm)
Naval Group's XLUUV Demonstrator
Cephalopod armed extra-large UUV
Chinese MS200 midget submarine