Underwater hazards: Southeast Asian navies enhance submarine safety

摘要

The number of submarine operators in Southeast Asia has boomed in the last 15 years. Prior to the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) commissioning its first Challenger-class boat (ex-Sjoorman class) in July 2000, the Indonesian Navy (Ten-tara Nasional Indonesia - Angka-tan Laut, or TNI-AL) was the only post-Second World War submarine operator in Southeast Asia. However, since then the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) has inducted two new Scorpene-class diesel-electric submarines (SSKs) from France and Spain respectively, while the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) Navy has taken delivery of six Improved Project 636 Kilos from Russia. A number of boats are also in the pipeline, with Indonesia anticipating the delivery of three new SSKs from South Korea, and Singapore looking forward to its first-ever new builds - two Type 218SG SSKs from Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS).