Frequent updates since publishing
OSINT. An Iranian Navy forward base ship, Makran, is believed to be transporting arms to Venezuela. I was able to break the story on USNI News. This piece complements that write up by providing a few additional OSINT elements for reference.
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World's First Rocket Armed Submarine, From 1834
Naval warfare was changed in the 1960s when the US Navy started deploying large rockets on submarines. Actually Russia, then USSR, beat them by several years. The first Russian ballistic missile submarines were sailing in the late 1950s.
But Russia beat them by much more than a few years. The first rocket-armed Russian submarine was in the 1830s.
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Australian Navy Eyes German Type-214 Submarine?
News that the Australian Navy may be exploring the idea of purchasing the German Type-214 submarines is surprising. They would replace the Collins class, instead of the French Shortfin Barracuda, which is already underway as the Attack Class. Quite aside from the political economic complications (I'll leave that to others), the choice of submarine is confusing.
Possibly there is a misunderstanding.
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Covert Shores Guide To Mozambique Navy: New, Fast, and Stuck In The Mud
Mozambique has one of the most impressive fleets of any small navy. On paper. It is equipped with futuristic trimaran offshore patrol boats, robust interceptors and the world's fastest military boat.
This article will provide an overview of their vessel types.
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Iran Copies' Russian SPP-1M Underwater Pistol
Russia's distinctive four-barrel SPP-1 underwater pistol was introduced into service in 1971. Its relative compactness, simplicity and robustness make it still relevant today.
So it is perhaps no surprise that Iran has copied it.
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Unique Pedal Powered Smuggling Submarine
When I write about smuggling submarines, it is normally about the Narco Subs found in Latin America. But there are other places were there were, or have been, circumstances to cause smugglers to use similar devices.
Switzerland also has its fair share of smuggling history.
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The Imperial Japanese Army's Sneaky Troop Transport Submarine
The vulnerability of landing craft is a hot topic for amphibious forces around the world. So Navies and Marines are looking to ways to make their landing craft more survivable, and using submarines is not a daft idea.
Faced with a similar problem in World war Two, the Japanese Army (not navy) built dedicated transport submarines.
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Pioneering Extra-Large UUV: The Royal Navy's Manta
Updated: Oroginally posted March 18, 2020
As a first step the Royal Navy recently announced the contract for the Manta XLUUV (Extra-large Uncrewed Underwater Vehicle). Ultimately the Royal Navy envisions very large UUVs taking on armed combat roles...
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Switzerland’s Remarkable ‘Navy’: A Covert Shores Guide
Land-locked countries sometimes have particularly interesting navies. Or boat equipped Army units. Characterized by heavily armed neutrality, the postwar Swiss military has an extremely high standard of equipment.
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Qatar Navy's New Submarine - About M23 SRL
Slowly, more information about the submarines being built in Italy for the Qatari Emiri Navy (QEN) are coming out. The EUR 190 million deal is for two submarines plus a training system.
It has emerged that GSE are the builder, under a spin-off company called M23 SRL.
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