Home reports lake Singapore's submarine "Impeccable" at home

Singapore's submarine "Impeccable" at home

Hans Uwe Mergener

July 21, 2023

According to the Singapore Ministry of Defense, the Singapore Navy submarine "Impeccable" arrived at its home base in Changi, Singapore, on Thursday, July 20. The arrival of the first boat of the Invincible class built in Kiel was duly acknowledged with a ceremony. The boat left Kiel on board the transport ship “Rolldock Storm” at the beginning of June. The image published by the Singaporean Ministry of Defense shows the “Impeccable” entering the RSS Singaporea naval base on its own keel.

As construction number 2 of the four-unit program, “Impeccable” is the first boat to arrive in Singapore. Construction number 1, “Invincible,” remains in Germany to support crew training. She was baptized in 2019 and has since been extradited. According to statements from the Ministry of Defense at the end of February, she is expected to return to Singapore this year after completing sea trials.

“Illustrious”, hull number 3, was christened together with her sister boat “Impeccable” on December 13, 2022 in the presence of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (tkMS) shipyard was able to complete the factory sea trials this spring. It is not yet known when the “Illustrious” will set off on its journey to the Southeast Asian city-state.

The “Impeccable” is now scheduled to carry out a series of sea trials in order to reach its full operational capability.

The Type 218 SG Invincible-class submarines are specifically designed to operate in Singapore's shallow and busy tropical waters. They are intended to replace the Archer and Challenger class submarines, which are now more than 60 and 40 years old, respectively. They were sourced from Singapore to gain experience and expertise. After more than 20 years of service to the city-state's navy, more modern submarines capable of meeting the operational environment and security challenges of the next 30 years were long overdue.

The design is designed for a low signature and has some tailor-made solutions. According to Singaporean officials, the Defense Science and Technology Agency of the Republic of Singapore (DSTA) has conducted modeling and simulation studies to optimize design, equipment selection and placement, and reduce maintenance requirements.

With a length of 70 meters and a pressure hull diameter of 6.3 meters, a displacement of 2,000 tons on the surface (2,200 tons submerged), the Type 218 SG is a derivative of the Type 214. The boats combine an extended hull design and the fuel cell AIP drive with Type 212A characteristics. The X-rudder tail configuration with the propeller vortex diffuser is one of the special external features. The underwater speed is said to be over 15 knots, and above water the boat is faster than ten knots. The crew size is 28 people.

The command and weapon deployment system was jointly developed by Singapore Technologies Electronics and Atlas Elektronik. The current standards-compliant automation systems are supported by data analysis systems and decision support algorithms, so-called sense-making systems, which DSTA contributed to the development of.

Type 218 SG is to be equipped with the latest generation Integrated Sensor Underwater System (ISUS 100) from Atlas Elektronik.

Experts assume that Type 218 SG can be equipped with a selection of mission packages. The armament of the eight torpedo tubes will include Leonardo's heavy Black Shark torpedo and, in the future, its further developed version BSA. There is also speculation about two additional torpedo tubes with a larger diameter (650 millimeters). This would make loading with cruise missiles possible.

Hans Uwe Mergener

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