The Baltic is not a problem set of an open ocean. It is superficial, congested, noisy, and filled with spots where the sonar reflects lose their way to the bottom. The follow-up submarine of Sweden is being designed on that fact, to be able to act like a traditional boat, but this time like a much more difficult to locate one.
The core of the initiative is the Blekinge-type A26, the creation of Saab that is promoted as Genuine Holistic Stealth (GHOST) technology. The idea is more a multi-layered signature management package rather than a single breakthrough where noise, magnetics and electrical emissions are considered the same engineering problem. Practically the design focus is on silent machineries combination, cautious isolation and exterior shape that is expected to decrease flow noise at those speeds at which submarines really creep, listen and wait.
That quieting starts inside. The A26 will incorporate rubberized mounts and other damping characteristics that are aimed at ensuring that rotating machinery does not “print” its vibration into the hull. Frames and tuned interior surface treatment Structural treatments between frames and tuned interior surfaces are aimed at smaller noises that can be significant when a boat is already slowly in motion. No less significant, the A26 is intended to be employed in the operations where remaining stationary is a strategy, such as the possibility to land at the bottom and be lost in the seabed clutter instead of constantly moving about.
The other half of the equation is endurance and Sweden is persevering with air-independent propulsion in lieu of nuclear. The A26 utilises Stirling AIP, a development which Saab has a long traditional connection with Swedish submarines and the type is said to have a maximum of 18 days submergence under AIP conditions. In its more comprehensive overview of the development of its submarine design across generations, Saab also constructs its modern boats as digitized and as “system-of-systems” operations, such as the work with uncrewed underwater vehicles.
The purpose of one A26 feature is not to conceal, but rather enlarge the capabilities of the platform, but when it comes unannounced. The design has a unique bow portal to accommodate special operations divers and underwater drones which represent an undersea mission set that is no longer confined to the traditional torpedo-and-sensor geometry. Sweden also seeks commonality between the new boats and its modernized A19 Gotland-class submarines, especially in its combat systems and sensors, but being built on A26 hull as the growth space to enable greater endurance and increased payload carrying.
The engineering dreams have not come in a cakewalk. A26 program The A26 program is based on a decision of 2010 and a 2015 order of two submarines, although the recent reset has pushed the first delivery date to 2031 and cost increases that Swedish reporting has reported as up to 25 billion SEK. The same reporting associated part of the slippage with the fact that new-class submarine production, dormant long at the Kockums yard, was being resumed.
That stress, between what the A26 promises on paper and what is required to get it in metal, is part of the reason why the boat has captured attention outside of Sweden. Should the Blekinge-class ever prove to provide that silent, stamina and special-mission adaptability upon which it is built, it will become a study of how deep into the counter-revolutionary sea a non-nuclear submarine can be submerged.
