Italy’s Giunio Santi Engineering (GSE) in cooperation with General Dynamics - Electric Boat is developing the acronym filled “GSE Trieste 'Button 5.60' - UOES3 dry-SDV” dry mini-sub (Photo courtesy H I Sutton in Covert Shores)
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As this US Defense Department document of 2011indicates there has been a US requirement for a battery powered dry submersible for at least 5 years.
SEALS and other Special Forces become tired in wet mini-subs where they have to wear scuba gear. The water can also be freezing making them exhausted and cold before they even hit the beach
Scout Warrior reports June 10 2016: US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and sub-maker General Dynamics Electric Boat have partnered up to develop a dry submersible mini-sub designed to more safely and efficiently deliver Navy SEALs into hostile, high-threat areas beneath the surface of the ocean.
The 10 meter long underwater vehicle, called the User Operational Evaluation System (UOES), can carry as many as six people. It is currently being tested and developed through a three-year, $44 million SOCOM firm-fixed price design, build and deliver contract.
Ideally dry mini-subs can fit into dry deck shelter (DDS) that sits on a submarine back behind the sail/fin of large submarines. Maybe even the future Shortfin! (Diagram courtesy HI Sutton in Covert Shores)
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It takes a very special set of engineering kills to build such a small dry sub which is still operationally viable so SOCOM turned to proven European designers, among them Italy’s Giunio Santi Engineering (GSE). Italy has a rich heritage of building devastingly effective mini-subs and diver delivery vehicles.
Some of the navigational technology used on a mini-sub includes a sonar Doppler velocity log which bounces a signal off the bottom of the ocean to help provide essential mission-relevant location information – as demonstrated 12 seconds into this unrelated DCNS Youtube.
Seperately on June 7, June 2016 H I Sutton discusses a competing bid for the User Operational Evaluation System (UOES) program from Lockheed Martin’s S302 Dry Combat Submersible (DCS) design
Rough specifications or requirements for the UOES solution may be.
Length: 9.36m (31ft) (vs 7.25m / 24ft fr S301i)
Beam: 2.34m (7.7ft)
Height: 2.34m (7.7ft)
Weight: 14,000 kg (31,000lb) loaded
Depth rating: 100m (328ft)
Maximum lock-out depth: 30m (98ft)
Endurance: 24hrs +
Range: 60nm @ 5kt
Speed: At least 8kt
RUSSIA'S MINI-SUB WITH ALL THE BELLS AND WISTLES
Due to US geography - with its coasts 1,000s kms serious enemy shores Special Forces carrying mini-subs usually need to be piggy-backable in the dry deck shelters of much larger submarines.
The Russian Project 865 Piranha-Losus mini-sub
The 'Piranha' was (or maybe still is?) a dedicated Russian special forces operations craft capable of delivering 6 men to a target over 400 miles from its base.
Useful diagrams and photos of Piranhas are again at H I Sutton's Covert Shores. A Piranha is a solution ideal for a country bordering small seas, like the Baltic, parts of the Mediterranean and maybe the Caribbean. At 30 meters long a Piranha was too large for DDS piggy-backing.
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Propulsion: diesel-electric
2 to 8 x 400mm torpedo tubes
Diver lock-out chamber with ‘moon pool’ hatch in floor
4 x Sirena-UM 2-man Swimmer Delivery Vehicle (in torpedo tubes)
or 6-8 'Proton' diver propulsion devices
Length: 28.2 meters
Beam: 4.74 meter
Displacement: 218 tons surfaced, 287 tons submerged
Speed: Maximum 6.28 kts surfaced, 6.5kts submerged
Operating depth: 180m (200m max)
Endurance : 10 days, 603nm at cruising speed of 4kts surfaced, 260nm at 4kts submerged
Armament: up to 8 x 400mm torpedos (maybe smaller number of 533mm instead).
Crew: 3 or 4
Special Forces: 6
Possible sitings of Russian Piranha mini-subs in the Baltic, off the Swedish coast, are reported in Submarine Matters articles of October 25, 2014 and January 15, 2015.
Pete