If the UK tommorow said they intended to procure a new SSG design would they go foreign or design their own?

If going foreign who would they go with?

Spain S-80
France Scopens
German U212/214

maybe joint with Australia?

and am i missing anyone?

Design their own, BMT even did a concept of a AIP sub. UK has most, if not all, of the technology required, so there’s no real need to import a foreign design. That said, there is no use for such a system with the RN.

There are some pics on Tango’s Navies News thread which illustrate some of the problems facing an SSN in the littorals. Here’s one of them:

If the RN’s going to be operating subs that close to the shore, they’d be better off buying a few SSKs from the Germans or the Swedes. Even if it’s just to save money on training, (and the embarassment :dev2:).

Oh you’re so funny.

Which is a good illustration of what is being stated here. If we take the abstract value of an additional A class boat as £1bn and look at a ‘cheap but comprehensive’ SSK design as an alternate we arrive at something like the 209PN that the Portuguese are inducting. Perhaps we get 3 of those plus support costs for the price of building the extra Astute. What gives us more capability in contrast to our taskings – the A class or the 3 patrol subs?.

The only good thing would be using an SSK as a cheap training submarine, though another simulator might arguably be a better investment.