In keeping with a practise of introducing a new class of submarine less than every 20 years – at least 10 years faster than for most other navies – the JMSDF launched the JS Taigei on October 14. When it enters service in 2020, Taigei will take the total number of Japanese submarines to 2022, fulfilling the goal of a national security plan issued in 2010. The vessel has an empty displacement of 3,000 tonnes, making it slightly larger than the two classes currently in service, the Oyashio (2,750 tonnes) and newer Soryu (2,900 tonnes).
The speed with which Japan is introducing a new class of submarine is an indication of how urgent the requirement has become. The last of the 12 Soryus is undergoing sea trials and is not due to be accepted into service until the second quarter of 2021. Construction of the second Taigei started in 2019 – and this program like all of the others uses a lead yard / follow yard concept between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries. It is this two yard approach that allows Japan to produce submarines briskly, insuring that there is a steady drumbeat for the introduction of new technologies.
Indeed, the last two of the Soryu series are being used as test beds for the use of lithium ion batteries and in that regard the Taigei can be seen as an extension of the earlier program. Japan along with South Korea has been an early adopter of lithium ion – perhaps not a surprise given the amount of commercial development and production underway for these sorts of batteries in the vehicle and electronics markets. In theory, submarines equipped with them rather than lead acid batteries will be able to recharge their systems faster, discharge energy more rapidly and store a lot more of it, meaning greater speed and endurance.
In the Western world the uptake of lithium ion has been considerably slower with crew safety being cited as one of the principle causes of such wariness. Another factor might be that submarines will need to be substantially redesigned, since these new generation batteries are only about one tenth of the weight of their predecessors, and that is not necessarily a benefit since the enormous weigh of lead acid cells is useful for the design stability of the submarine.
Japan continues to be alarmed at the huge growth in the PLA(N) and this is a rapid counter move. North Korea is also something of a planning headache, though that country’s submersibles are older and tend to be quite short range. China’s conventional submarine fleet is expanding – though for the moment it is probably the case that Japan remains a generation ahead in propulsion, weapons and sensors. However, that gap will continue to narrow.
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