The Astute class equips the UK Royal Navy with its largest and most powerful fleet of attack submarines.
BAE Systems released the news of the ongoing construction phase of the fifth Astute-class submarine on its social media account. Astute class submarines stand out in the UK in many different ways.
Equipped with world-leading sensors, the Astute-class carry both Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles (TLAM) and Spearfish heavyweight torpedoes. Measuring 97 meters in length the boats can circumnavigate the globe submerged, producing their own oxygen and drinking water. As well as Astute BAE Systems are also constructing the Dreadnought class submarine which will replace the Barrow-built Vanguard-class submarines to maintain the UK’s continuous at sea deterrent (CASD).
- Astute class submarines are the UK’s largest and most powerful attack submarines and can strike at targets up to 1,000km from the coast with pin-point accuracy.
- Astute submarines are the first nuclear submarines to be designed entirely in a three-dimensional, computer-aided environment.
- An Astute submarine’s 90-day dived endurance is only limited by the amount of food that can be carried and the endurance of the crew.
