Final month, the US Navy SEALs unveiled their new MK11 SEAL Supply Automobile (SDV), which is slated to exchange the MK8 SDV in service because the Nineteen Eighties.
Considerably, this functionality improve could also be a part of a reorientation in the usage of US Special Forces from counterterrorism and counterinsurgency to nice energy competitors and might be deployed in any battle within the South China Sea.
SDVs are small, free-flooding submarines that may transport a small group of well-equipped SEALs for infiltration, reconnaissance, direct motion and different amphibious missions.
When being free-flooded, SEALs are surrounded by sea water throughout the whole mission whereas they breathe compressed air from the SDV’s life assist programs or their very own respiration equipment.
The MK11 SDV reached preliminary working functionality (IOC) this summer time, whereas its “subsequent technology” isn’t scheduled to achieve full operational capabilities till 2027. Earlier than reaching IOC, the primary 5 items delivered between 2018 to 2020 underwent thorough checks and alterations.
The MK11 includes a digital life assist system into which divers can plug into. It options an upgraded communications suite that enables diver-to-diver, diver-to-platform and platform-to-platform communications.
In comparison with the MK8, which might be changed on a one-to-one foundation, the MK11s are twelve inches longer, six inches taller and wider, and 4,000 kilos heavier.
They is also armed with Black Scorpion mini torpedoes. This may require putting in five-inch launch tubes for six torpedoes on the port and starboard sides of the sub. Nevertheless, arming a mini-sub with mini-torpedoes is just not believed to have ever been tried earlier than.
The MK11 follows a system-of-system strategy to its design and is a component of a bigger system that features new SEAL private gear, the MK11 SDV and the brand new Virginia and Columbia-class subs.
It’s designed to be suitable with the newest SEAL private gear, akin to jet boots, dive tablets and thermal fits, permitting operators to hold extra gear whereas having extra space. That, in flip, will conceivably cut back crew fatigue, permit for longer missions and protect operational effectiveness.
The MK11 can be designed to be suitable with upgraded Dry Deck Shelters (DDS) which can be put in in future items of the Virginia-class and Columbia-class subs, as the present Ohio-class subs are nearing the top of their service lives.
A DDS acts as a cylindrical storage for SEAL gear, SDVs or underwater drones. At the moment, the US is modernizing one in all its six DDS items, extending it by 50 inches and permitting for distant management from the host submarine with the purpose of accelerating its payload quantity by 30% and payload capability to 300%.
It should even have distant operation capabilities from Virginia-class subs.
The MK11’s introduction signifies a significant paradigm shift in US Special Forces doctrine. Whereas being closely engaged in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency from the late 20th to early 21st century, Special Forces capabilities are being constructed for future nice energy competitors with China and Russia.
For the previous 20 years, US Navy SEALs had been the spearhead for searching down terrorists in land-based campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, however at the moment are returning to their unique maritime mission skill-set. As such, the US is gearing up its SEAL groups to be efficient in opposition to nice energy rivals it considers to be near-peer adversaries.
As a distinct segment however extremely succesful platform, the MK11 can stealthily transport SEAL groups near enemy harbors, naval bases or different strategic targets.
Within the South China Sea, for instance, SEAL groups deployed to small islands might function with a really small footprint and nice mobility, making them particularly troublesome to detect and destroy.
SEAL groups deployed from the MK11 might transfer to destroy China’s anti-access/space denial (A2/AD) belongings on its occupied sea options, together with radar websites and missile batteries, and thus permit US and allied forces higher freedom of motion within the disputed space.
The MK11 with its embarked SEAL group might be deployed to infiltrate enemy naval bases and sink hostile warships at port utilizing limpet mines or mini-torpedoes. They may additionally carry out small-scale sea denial missions by mining the approaches to enemy harbors and bases utilizing numerous explosive gadgets.
Each the MK11 and its SEAL crew can also carry out strategic reconnaissance missions, appearing as covert eyes and ears for provider battlegroups and aiding warships with over-the-horizon concentrating on for cruise missile strikes or airstrikes from carrier-based plane.
A MK11 or SEAL group stationed on or round one of many South China Sea’s many distant islands could possibly use superior sensors to detect and transmit the situation of passing Chinese language warships to US and allied air, naval, and floor forces within the neighborhood, which might then open hearth on the goal.
