Sweden’s entry into NATO is “close at hand”: this is what its enviable Gotland-class submarines are like

NATO’s expansion towards the northern flank has been stagnant for a year, although everything seems to indicate that it is now in the final stretch. The Secretary General of the Atlantic AllianceJens Stoltenberg, stated on thursday in a meeting in Brussels with high-level representatives of Turkey, Finland and Sweden that the latter’s accession to the bloc is “within reach”.

The initial goal was to celebrate Sweden’s welcome at this week’s annual summit of allied countries, but the expected outcome has been delayed due to a series of objections made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Let us remember that accessions to NATO must be approved unanimously, that is, by all 31 members, an ideal scenario that has not occurred so far.

Sweden, the potential NATO member that stands out for its advanced submarines

Over the next few days we will attend two important events that could clear the way for Sweden. On Monday, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson will hold a meet face to face with the Turkish president. And on Tuesday the long-awaited annual meeting of the Alliance will begin. If the efforts pay off, Stockholm will be able to contribute one of its star strategic assets to the Atlantic Alliance.

These are HMS Gotland, HMS Halland and HMS Uppland, three Gotland-class submarines that stand out for their advanced features. Although they lack nuclear propulsion, they are equipped with a novel system that allows them to remain submerged for a generous amount of time. In addition, they have a varied amount of weapons for defense and attack of submarines and other ships.

The flagship submarine of the class, HMS Gotland, was built at the Swedish shipyard Kockums (since 2014 owned by defense company Saab) and launched on February 2, 1995. The designers took the venerable and now defunct Västergötland class of submarines as a starting point and pushed for many improvements including, as we say, an outstanding propulsion system.

One of the disadvantages of diesel-electric submarines compared to nuclear ones is that they must surface more frequently. This is because your combustion generators need a periodic source of oxygen to do their job. One of the secrets of the Gotlands is that they incorporate a modern system known as air independent propulsion (AIP, for its acronym in English).

As the Swedish Navy explainstheir modern ships use liquid oxygen for combustion, which means that they do not have to go to the surface to be in contact with oxygen. This propulsion system, known as Stirling after the Scottish engineer who invented it in the early 18th century, is also much quieter than traditional submarine propulsion systems.

Gotland-class submarine

Among their other features, the Gotlands are equipped with circular sonars and hydrophones. The latter are electroacoustic transducers that convert sound vibrations, present in the form of pressure within water, into electrical energy. In other words, a kind of “microphones”, but designed to hear what happens in the depths of the sea.

HMS Gotland in San Diego, California

If we talk about the armament we find four 53 cm torpedo tubes and two 40 cm torpedo tubes. In total you can carry a dozen heavy shells and six conventional. This offers the possibility of carrying out attacks of a diverse nature. For example, against surface ships as well as against other submarines.

The FTH organization points out that all of its Gotland-class submarines received a series of upgrades in their “mid-life upgrade.” These included a new control system and improvements in general operating capabilities. The tasks were carried out at the Karlskrona shipyard.

The qualities of the Gotlands caught the attention of the United States, so an agreement was reached in the mid-2000s to carry out joint exercises. facing california things. Thus, the HMS Gotland remained for two years in American territory. Her peers, they proudly point out in the Swedish navy, “had difficulty locating the submarine” during the exercises.

Images: Swedish Armed Forces

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