Page 23 - Australian Defence Magazine July-August 2022

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DEFENCE BUSINESS SUBMARINES 23
HMAS Collins was launched in August 1993 (albeit not in a complete state), only six years after the contract was signed with Kockums, and the company is confident it can meet any schedule requirement for an interim design to de-risk the transition to nuclear-powered boats in the 2040s.
Sweden is introducing the A26 (known to the Swedish Navy as Blekinge-class), which the Navy says will be a gener- ation beyond even its post-MLU Gotland-class submarines. Pre-definition studies are also already underway between Kockums, the Swedish Navy and Försvarets materielverk (FMV, equivalent to Australia’s CASG) for the next design, given the working title UB30, although no contract yet ex- ists. “This will be a transition submarine into what we see as a paradigm shift,” CAPT Lindén said of the A26 design.
The A26 itself was designed after extensive studies by the Swedish Navy into the future of submarine warfare which, in CAPT Lindén’s words: “Anticipate(s) a paradigm shift in which the submarine will transform from being a weap- ons and sensor platform into becoming a decision node in a larger system of different UUVs and seabed sensor and communication chains.”
While the Swedish submarines are designed for the diffi- cult but shallow waters of the Baltic Sea, Kockums has already demonstrated its ability to design larger boats with the Collins- class, a submarine that has arguably been regarded the most
capable conventional submarine in the region, if not the world. Speaking to ADM in Saab Kockums’ shipyard in Karlsk- rona in June, the company’s President Lars Tossman told ADM that while the company has not had any dialogue with the Commonwealth about an interim submarine, it
stands ready to engage in any way it can.
Tossman points to the Royal Netherlands Navy’s Walrus-
class replacement, which requires an “expeditionary” (blue water) submarine and for which Kockums has partnered with Dutch shipbuilder Damen in the competition, and he also sees a similar requirement in Canada. “It is in Saab’s DNA to work with local partners,” he said. “I don’t know if a gap- filler submarine will be required, but if they should decide to do that, of course we again have the capability and we would be happy to have that dialogue. At the moment we don’t have a dialogue around that, but I think the new government will have to decide what their strategy will be.”
Of course, a further option if one Collins submarine be- ing out of the water for a decade is acceptable – and par- ticularly given CAPT Lindén’s assessment of the post-MLU Gotland submarines above – is perhaps to conduct a similar Collins Mid Life Upgrade. ■
Disclaimer: The writer travelled to Sweden as a guest of Saab Kockums.