Scorpene vs. Agosta 90B - A General Analysis

(NJS  - security Editorial Panel)  : Agosta 90 B is considered to be one of best in its class, and is manufactured by DCNS of France, Pakistan has ordered and assembled 3 of them in which is considered to be Major deterrence against India‘s depleting underground fleet.

Current 90 B models is specially modernized design built for the Pakistan Navy, Various modifications has given Agosta lower acoustic signature, lower diving depth, improved  battery range and performance. Greater automation also allows the crew to be reduced from 54 to 36. The submarine can be armed with up to 16 torpedoes/ SM39 Exocet Anti-ship missiles; SM39 was first test-fired from a Khalid-class submarine in 2001.

• PNS/M Khalid (S137) - built in France by DCN Cherbourg, completed in 1999

• PNS/M Saad (S138) - built in Pakistan with French assistance, completed in 2002

• PNS/M Hamza (S139) - built in Pakistan, commissioned 14 August 2006

Agosta has significant improvements in acoustic discretion and detection, as well as con-siderable more automation compared to its predecessors... Other improvements include a new battery for increased range and a deeper diving capability of 350m resulting from the  use of new materials such as HLES 80 steel. Another important improvement is compati-bility with the MESMA AIP system, which has already been fitted onto the Hamza and  will be added to the Khalid and Saad in the near future. Even French navy has 300 m ca-pable in its same Agosta class .

The submarine is fitted with a Thales Underwater Systems TSM 223 sonar suite, which includes bow-mounted sonar and towed sonar arrays, SAGEM periscopes and navigation system and Thales I-band navigation radar.

The Scorpene (Indian version) is the latest submarine from the DCNS design bureau and is built in collaboration with Navantia of Spain. India has placed the order for six numbers in October 2005; all the submarines will be manufactured in Mazgaon Dock in India un-der a Transfer of Technology. The transfer of Technology covers excluding the tech for Torpedoes. Along with this Indian Navy has also ordered 36 MBDA SM-39 Exocet anti-ship missiles. Construction on the first Sub is started in Dec 2006, with delivery due in December 2012. The remaining five Scorpene will be delivered over the next five years,

at the rate of one a year.

The Scorpene is fitted with the SUBTICS combat management system, with up to six multifunction common consoles and a centrally situated tactical table. It is composed of a  command and tactical data handling system, a weapon control system and an integrated suite of acoustic sensors with an interface to a set of air surface detection sensors and the integrated navigation system.

The News also confirms Scorpene may be armed with Brahmos Anti-ship Missiles which DCNS also showed interest in it, which has 290 km supersonic speed with high end accuracy and Brahmos is considered to be best and better than Exocet Missiles.

The vessel has excellent detection capability due to its extensive sonar suite which in-cludes a long-range passive cylindrical array, intercept sonar, active sonar, distributed ar-ray, flank array, high-resolution sonar for mine and obstacle avoidance and a towed array.

The Scorpene has an increased diving depth of 370m as compared to the Agosta 90B's 350m, and has no limitations on operations at maximum depth due to the increased usage of high-yield stress-specific steel. When Submerged the Scorpene is quieter than most submarines due to the utilization of advanced hydrodynamics with an albacore bow shape,  with fewer appendages and an optimized propeller. Placing systems on elastic mountings further minimizes noise.

Where the Scorpene particularly scores over the Agosta 90B is in its stealth capabilities.

Unlike the Agosta, which is a modification of a three-decade old design, the Scorpene in-corporates the latest in hydrodynamics, damping and stealth technologies to reduce its noise signature, thereby greatly increasing its detection capability and offensive power.

The Scorpene can also carry more weapons than the Agosta 90B – a mix of 18 torpedoes and missiles or 30 mines. The six bow-located 21-inch torpedo tubes also have salvo launch capability.

While the original Agosta had not been designed keeping an AIP system in mind but had it included only in the 90B variant, the Scorpene has been designed to seamlessly inte-grate an AIP system. This results in increased submerged range steaming under AIP for the Scorpene as compared to the Agosta.

Scorpene in different Version

The Scorpene class submarines come in mainly two subtypes: Basic, Basic-AIP, The Scorpene used by the Chilean Navy is of the first type. India is most probably ordering the se-cond type.

           

Variants Basic Basic-AIP

Overall length 66 meters 76 meters

Submerged displacement 1700 tons 2010 tons

Maximum submerged speed 20 knots 19 knots

Diving depth 370 meters 370 meters

Crew complement 31 31

Endurance 45 days 45 days

Parameters Agosta 90B Scorpene

Overall length 76 meters 76 meters

Overall width 6.8 meters 6.2 meters

Overall height 5.4 meters 5.8 meters

Displacement

Surfaced 1810 tons 1850 tons

Submerged 1980 tons 2010 tons

Range

Surfaced 13,700 km 10,500 km

Submerged 2,250 km 3,500 km

Maximum Speed

Surfaced 12 knots 12 knots

Submerged 19 knots 19 knots

Endurance

Diving endurance 60 days 45 days

Diving depth 320 meters 370 meters

Carriage

Complement 36 (7 officers) 31 (6 officers)

Weapons 16 missiles and tor- 18 missiles and torpe-

pedoes does

Even though Agosta 90 B is inferior in capability than Indian one, but still Pakistan submarine fleet is considered to have better submarine usage strategy against India’s depleting force submarine fleet.

 Pakistan also was in process over purchase of next line of submarine by inking a deal to purchase Germany’s U-214 class submarine which it intended to purchase in 3 or 4 in numbers .which includes AIP , this boat is considered to be one of best and deadliest in world .

India also is considering its second line of construction for another 6 submarines to argument Pakistani purchase and in the race are Amur 1650 from Russia / DCNS of France / U 214 class from Germany, but India is in preliminary stage of tender process while Pakistan is considering purchasing of Chinese diesel or nuke submarine in contest of India building its own fleet of nuclear submarine, Recently Government has sanctioned the amount for second line construction. India should realize the need of second line submarine in fast track to stop depletion in submarine fleet.