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Scorpène class

Tunku Abdul Rahman at Port Klang, September 2009
Royal Malaysian Navy's Scorpène-class submarine KD Tunku Abdul Rahman
Class overview
Name: Scorpène class
Builders:
Operators:
Preceded by: Agosta class
Subclasses:
Cost: US$450 million
Building: 4
Planned: 19
Completed: 4
Cancelled: 4
General characteristics
Type: Submarine
Displacement:
  • 1,565 tonnes (1,725 short tons) (CM-2000)
  • 1,870 tonnes (2,060 short tons) (AM-2000)
  • 2,000 tonnes (2,200 short tons) (S-BR)
Length:
  • 61.7 m (202 ft) (CM-2000)
  • 70 m (230 ft) (AM-2000)
  • 75 metres (246 ft) (S-BR)
Beam: 6.2 m (20 ft)
Draught: 5.4 m (18 ft)
Draft: 5.8 m (19 ft)
Propulsion:
Speed:
  • 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) (submerged)
  • 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) (surfaced)
Range:
  • 6,500 nmi (12,000 km) at 8 kn (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) (surfaced)
  • 550 nmi (1,020 km; 630 mi) at 5 kn (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) (submerged)
Endurance:
  • 40 days (compact)
  • 50 days (normal)
  • 50+21 days (AIP)
Test depth: >350 metres (1,150 ft)
Complement: 31
Armament: 6 x 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes for 18 Whitehead Alenia Sistemi Subacquei Black Shark heavyweight torpedoes or SM.39 Exocet anti-ship missiles, 30 mines in place of torpedoes

The Scorpène-class submarines are a class of diesel-electric attack submarines jointly developed by the French Direction des Constructions Navales (DCN) and the Spanish company Navantia, and now by DCNS. It features diesel propulsion and an additional air-independent propulsion (AIP).

The Chilean Navy ordered two Scorpène-class boats, which replaced two Oberon-class submarines retired by the Chilean Navy. In 2005, the Indian Navy ordered six Scorpène-class; all the Indian boats will be built in India, at Mazagon Dock and elsewhere, and the last two are to be fitted with an Indian Fuel cell AIP module. For the follow-on requirement of six submarines, DCNS plans to offer a larger version of the submarine to the Indian Navy. In 2008, the Brazilian Navy ordered four Scorpènes.

The Chilean Scorpène-class O'Higgins and Carrera were completed in 2005 and 2006, respectively. In 2009, the Royal Malaysian Navy commissioned Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Abdul Razak.

The Scorpène class of submarines has four subtypes: the CM-2000 conventional diesel-electric version, the AM-2000 AIP derivative, the downsized CA-2000 coastal submarine, and the enlarged S-BR for the Brazilian Navy, without AIP.

The Chilean and Malaysian boats are fitted with the TSM 2233 Mk 2 sonar. The class can also be fitted with an 'S-Cube' sonar suite from Thales.

The French Module d'Energie Sous-Marine Autonome (MESMA) system is being offered by the French shipyard DCN for the Scorpène-class submarines. It is essentially a modified version of their nuclear propulsion system with heat being generated by ethanol and oxygen. The combustion of the ethanol and stored oxygen, at a pressure of 60 atmospheres, generates steam which powers a conventional turbine power plant. This pressure-firing allows exhaust carbon dioxide to be expelled overboard at any depth without an exhaust compressor.


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Wikipedia

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