Next generation dry-SDV UOES-2 enters testing
12-Feb. One of two competing systems ordered by the USN and USSOCOM, MSubs' S-351 User Operational Evaluation System-2 (UOES-2) has started testing in Plymouth UK where the manufacturer is based. The 22m USD system will be shipped to US for extensive trials against the Italian designed UOES-3. The new boat has been christened Margaret and is the second craft designed by British form MSubs to be evaluated by the USSOCOM as a replacement for the ill-fated ASDS program.
Link to news source: OceanNews
Possible that new-build Virginia Class SSNs will not have DDS capability
16-Mar. The US Navy plans to modify the design of the block-V Virginia Class SSN to include a 70ft hull extension containing four 6-round 'Virginia Payload Modules' which are clusters of vertical launch tubes for Tomahawk Cruise Missiles and similar loads (to include unmanned underwater vehicles!).
USS North Carolina (SSN-777) demonstrates the current DDS capability of the Virginia Class)
That's great news except that the new modules are likely to be placed part way along the back of the boat where (I deduce) they may interfere with the DDS capability.
Link to news source: DoD Buzz
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Chinese Type-093T submarine will have Dry-Deck-Shelter for SDVs
18-Mar. news broke in the Chinese media on the latest iteration of the Type-093 SSN. Observers had known of a modification behind the sail which was thought by most to be a VLS for cruise missiles. It now appears that the flat platform is the base for a Dry-Deck-Shelter (DDS):
Chinese media appear to know as little about SDV operations as their Western counterparts. Janes' (who I wuld not put in that bucket!) comment that:
The accompanying text indicates the hangar can accommodate only about 2/3 of the length of the SDV (which it compares with the US Mk VIII SDV) and so remains flooded when the vehicle is docked. Consequently, as transfer of personnel to the SDV cannot easily be achieved with the submarine dived, the graphic shows SF personnel being transferred to the submarine by helicopter. The article refers to this as a wet-deck system and the SSN variant as a Type 093T.
Janes' reservations are well justified. The configuration described is not credible. Clearly the image shows a proper DDS which just happens to have the aft section of an SDV sticking out. There would be no need for the heavy door if it were a wet shelter.
Link to news source: Janes' Defense
other news
USS Grayback model now on display at Naval Undersea Museum (bremertonpatriot)
Huntington Ingalls acquires The Columbia Group (makers of the Mk. Gator Class SDV for US Navy SEALs) (Janes')