A
couple of years ago, the Iranian navy announced it had
deployed a submarine
to the Red Sea as part of its patrol force
there. We can’t be sure (from out
here in Unclassified World) how many times submarines have deployed to the Red
Sea since. It’s probably not many;
Iran does better now with her Russian-built, Kilo-class submarines than she used
to, in terms of keeping them ready and deployable, but her performance still
wouldn’t be called great.
It’s
good enough, however, to back up last week’s announcement that the Kilo-class
submarine Younus (also spelled Younes and Yunes in transliteration) was
heading for a
deployment around the Indian Ocean, and
would make stops in India and Sri Lanka while it was out. The submarine will be accompanied by the
frigate Alborz (British-built Vosper
Mark V class) and the auxiliary ship Bandar Abbas (a German-built 1970s-era
replenishment ship with small deck guns, used for some patrol duties as well as
supply missions).
The
original announcement, from Admiral Siyavash Jarreh, deputy navy chief for
operations, described the deployment as heading to “East Asia,” but it’s not
clear how far east it will actually go.
A surface task group consisting of a frigate and the auxiliary ship Kharg made a voyage to
China in early 2013, calling in the East
China Sea port of Zhangjiagang at the mouth of the Yangtze River (near
Shanghai).
(Reportedly, the Iranians later announced that these
ships had “forced” an
Australian surveillance aircraft to “turn away” during a routine
encounter in the Indian Ocean. According to the Australians, the
encounter was ordinary, friendly, and professional, with no “forcing”
involved.)
But
it’s doubtful the submarine Younus
will go that far east. The
Kilo-class submarines are diesel-powered, conventionally-aspirated submarines
which need to snorkel periodically, and require refueling during extended
deployments. Younus couldn’t travel further east
without a guaranteed place to refuel between India or Sri Lanka and China. The politics of refueling a foreign
submarine, especially Iran’s submarine, are more freighted than those of
admitting foreign surface combatants to local ports; it’s unlikely that Iran has
made such arrangements yet (with, say, Malaysia). Transiting the Six-Degree Channel south
of Great Nicobar Island, and the Strait of Malacca itself, would also entail
making the submarine particularly vulnerable to detection. Iran would not retain control of how
much she let other nations know about the Kilo submarine’s
presence.
The
day when Iran’s submarines go farther asea is presumably coming, however. Long before her submarines become a
potential threat off the coast of the
United States... [See rest at links]
CDR, USN (Ret.)
Hemet, CA
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