Shatun

US Navy defenseless?! Unthinkable as it maybe it seems to be the case! One little Swedish AIP Diesel submarine can come and go as it pleases. It can sink US nuke subs, it can even sink biggest and newest US aircraft carrier!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khaa3y0i87s

This video leaves you under impression that Swedish Gotland is pretty much the only AIP diesel sub in the world, which is hardly a case

Germans launched new Type 212 sub, which is quietest in the word and uses fuel cells for silent propulsion.

Russians are not far behind. New Amur class should be coming out with diesels and fuel cell. Amur class is an improvement of very well known Kilo class, which is just as quiet as most top of the line nuclear subs if not quieter. China bough many Kilo class subs and orders more of them. Even Venezuela and Indonesia are in line to buy Kilos and Amurs

French Agosta and Scorpene supposed to be very formidable subs too. For sale to Pakistan, India and pretty much anybody else who pays.

AIP diesel subs can be just as deadly as nuclear subs especially in littoral waters and they cost fraction of the nuke. Before you know it even backward third world countries will have fleets of silent and deadly submarines.

At the same time US all nuclear, very expensive fleet is to shrink to 40+ subs in very near future. US submarine fleet will be stretched well beyond its capabilities. Responsibility of protecting US shores and numerous giant floating targets (AKA aircraft carriers) can be more than US Navy can handle. Chinese and Russian sub fleets combined outnumber US fleet 2to1 already and number of submarines in Chinese fleet is rising rapidly. Even Russians added couple new subs to their fleet and re-commissioned two more submarines, which were mothballed after fall of USSR.

Then there is another story, which everybody forgot about:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20750156-1702,00.html

Chinese diesel submarine coming boldly into US carrier group formation and surfacing within five miles from the carrier! Two US subs and dozen surface ships did not even see it coming! China is testing defense capabilities of US Navy.

So, can US Navy defend American shores? Automatic and very patriotic response would be “Heck Yeah!” But is it really the case?

Oh by the way. Almost forgot. Another very bad news: “US Air Force is going out of business”. I did not say that Secretary of US Air Force did

http://dc01-cdh-afa03.tranguard.net/AFA/Features/modernization/box092107warning.htm