Submarines are capable of making significant contributions to MDO through their freedom of movement, stealth, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. Saab’s A26, the world’s first 5th-generation submarine, brings additional benefits that can provide operational flexibility as well as gathering and delivering critical information, for commanders across the NATO alliance – enabling them to coordinate and execute successful operations across any domain.
Undetected = unrestricted. Developed in the most challenging of environments, the Baltic Sea, the A26 can remain undetected in the world’s most complex maritime arenas. From shallow littoral waters to oceanic blue waters, the A26 can gather critical information on enemy communications and movements without revealing its presence.
Controlling critical sea lines of communication and protecting friendly forces requires a submarine that can interact with the seabed with system-of-systems capabilities, facilitating the strategic deployment of UUVs and special forces.
Equipped with long-range precision strike torpedoes, and the potential for submarine-launched missiles, the A26 can engage targets at sea or on land, empowering commanders to strike different domains, from different domains.
The A26’s electronic surveillance and data gathering enhance the overall impact of kinetic strikes and MDO through the passive, non-disruptive detection and classification of enemy signals.
With its unique capacity to remain at sea for long periods, the A26 lets you stay in control with staying power. Maintaining a covert presence in strategic locations can project power and deter adversaries, contributing to the overall operational advantage sought through MDO.
The A26 can support information warfare efforts by gathering and exploiting enemy communications and electronic signals, providing valuable insights into adversary intentions and capabilities. Also termed “underwater information warfare” by the Swedish navy, stopping signals and disrupting communications and cables also fall under this category. The products Saab offers within the underwater domain enhance these capabilities significantly.
Sharing intelligence and sensor data with commanders across other domains enhances the overall operational picture and enables better informed decision making.
5th-generation submarine capabilities
MDO is a strategic form of warfare that aims to coordinate and combine single, simultaneous, or sequential actions across various domains at speed and at scale.
By leveraging its capabilities, the A26 can play a crucial role in MDO, contributing to the integrated and decentralized approach required to gain an operational advantage against peer or near-peer competitors.
Balanced multi-domain signatures
The A26 submarine’s acoustic signatures are extremely low, also far outside the traditional frequency ranges for submarines. Magnetic signatures are kept to a minimum by an advanced degaussing system that is controlled by the submarine’s own sensors. Static and dynamic electric signatures are predicted and countered by optimized corrosion control and other measures. Target echo strength is minimised by optimized geometry and integrated coating systems without compromising the hydrodynamic signatures.
Radar, visual and IR surface signatures are also minimised by special coatings on the submarine’s surface and the hull’s design. Saab’s patented Stirling-AIP system plays a crucial role in remaining undetected for long periods of time and is a proven and effective means of ensuring signature management across all the domains.
Seabed warfare
The A26 submarine has a powerful and versatile raft of seabed warfare capabilities. This system of systems comprises the A26 submarine, UUVs, special forces, swimmer delivery vehicles (SDVs) and seabed ISR systems and weapon systems.
The Multi-Mission Portal is compatible with a wide range of Saab’s underwater vehicles that bring a variety of supplementary mission capabilities.
Not only can the A26 deliver seabed warfare assets, it has the unique ability to lie on the seabed itself. This bottoming capability is an especially effective manoeuvre for evading anti-submarine warfare vessels.
The ability to hide on the seabed floor is a result of the A26’s strong hull, which is free of external tanks, as well as the X-rudder configuration, which is also provides the submarine with exceptional manoeuvrability.