Norman Polmar:
altro:...
The Improved Akula SSN, which went to sea in 1990, soon revealed that the Soviets had surpassed the U.S. Navy in some areas of acoustic quieting--the Improved Akula was quieter than our newest attack submarines, the Improved LOS ANGELES class. Admiral J.M. Boorda, the Chief of Naval Operations, told the House:
This is the first time since we put NAUTILUS to sea that [the Russians] have had submarines at sea quieter than ours. As you know, quieting is everything in submarine warfare.
While we are told that the SEAWOLF is the quietest submarine in the world, one wonders if we have "all" the data needed to evaluate the acoustic signature of the Akula II, and the potential noise level of the Russian SEVERODVINSK, now on the building ways. If the past is any guide to the future, it is likely that the SEVERODVINSK will be significantly quieter than the Akula series--and quieter than the SEAWOLF, which was designed several years before the SEVERODVINSK. Discussions that I have had with senior officials of Russia's Rubin and Malachite design bureaus reinforce the view that future Russian submarines will be quieter and have significantly improved performance.
True, the size of the Russian submarine force has been cut in half; relatively few submarines are going to sea; and the construction of new submarines is proceeding at a sluggish rate. But the Russian submarine force remains, in the words of the U.S. Director of Naval Intelligence, the "technological pacing challenge."
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U.S. sub experts suspect the Gepard may move as fast and as quietly as America's best fully operational subs, the Los Angeles-class subs, as well as have the capacity to dive deeper and to harness more firepower.
"In many respects, it's a superior submarine," says independent submarine expert Norman Polmar. "We know it's at least as quiet as an improved L.A.'s. Whether it's quieter I can't say."
Polmar argues, though, the launching of the Gepard does not represent a new capability for the Russian navy.
Russian submarines traditionally have been louder than American submarines, but intelligence experts believe that starting in the mid-1980s, Russia has been advancing quieting techniques with their Akula-class submarines. The Akulas now reportedly have sound levels equal to or lower than U.S. Los Angeles and possibly the future Virginia-class submarines.
With the Gepard, reportedly the best of the Akulas, Russia is believed to have built 13 Akula-class submarines. The Gepard is of the improved Akula II series, and some experts believe Russia actually launched its first Akula II in 1996.
The U.S. Navy currently operates some 55 advanced nuclear submarines.
Important Milestone or Last Gasp?
A recent article in Moscow Rossiyskaya Gazeta, a government daily paper, claims the Gepard surpasses America's new Seawolf submarines, not yet fully operational, "in practically every way."
Still, Polmar and others say the Gepard does not represent a particularly severe challenge for the U.S. Navy. "It's meaningless, because they don't have the money to fully operate them and they have so few of them," he says.
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ennesimo squallido servilismo del Tg1.
"incidente simile a quello del Kursk"
Simile un corno......Riotta le balle raccontale a chi ci crede, raccontalo che Putin parò il culo a Clinton.
OT
Riotta è questo: http://www.rai.tv/mpplaymedia/0,,New...114742,00.html
E' un ignorante.
Una tragedia del mare che rattrista tutti.
Però accidenti, questi sottomarini russi non mi sembrano dei campioni di affidabilità.