Monday, October 14, 2019

Stealth Problems Are Nothing New For Submarines

The Russian Navy's imposing Oscar-II Class cruise missile submarine. If you look closely at the front of the submarine you can see that some of sonar absorbing tiles are missing. Russian Ministry of Defense

Forbes: U.S. Navy Submarines May Have Stealth Problems, But They’re Not Alone

Submarines rely on stealth to survive. An alarming problem with the U.S. Navy’s submarine stealth has come to the surface. A Sept. 26 whistleblower complaint accuses shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls of falsifying quality tests on the stealth coating of Virginia Class attack submarines, thus “knowingly and/or recklessly” putting “American lives at risk.”

This anechoic coating, which reduces the submarine’s sonar signature, is called Special Hull Treatment in U.S. Navy parlance. In layperson’s terms these coatings are usually rubber tiles glued on to the outside of the steel hull. The process of attaching them and final finish varies by country and is a very sensitive topic which, understandably, isn’t talked about. If the coating falls off, the submarine can be detected more easily.

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WNU Editor:The technology behind anechoic coating must be one of those secrets labelled ultra top secret.

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