Articles by Augusto Conte de los Ríos

The growth of the People's Republic of China's submarine weapons, together with its increasingly aggressive practices, is forcing its neighbors to rearm, especially in the naval sector. Curiously, for economic and diplomatic reasons, some of these countries are relying on Chinese products, while others are striving to create their own industry, seeking not to depend on third parties. After analyzing the cases of Australia or Taiwan, today we dedicate this article to Thailand, another of the regional actors that seeks to provide itself with a submarine force. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Ejercitos Magazine taking advantage of our offer for new subscribers through the following link.

Last March, the French Minister of Defense, Florence Parly, announced the signing of a contract worth several billion euros that marks the launch of the construction phase of the four third-generation nuclear ballistic submarines, the future SNLE 3G. This news had been brought forward by the DGA (General Directorate of Armament) to Naval Group and TechnicAtome, a contract that allowed continuity to a series of studies that had been commissioned to these two companies in 2017 to carry out a validation study of a detailed preliminary design. In this case, it was about carrying out the general design of the future French 3G SNLE and detailed studies of critical systems, before the first sheet metal cut in 2023 and in 2025 the detailed design phase, with a view to its delivery in [Keep reading…]

In the last few hours, the world has lived pending the fate of the Indonesian submarine KRI Nanggala (402) and especially of the 53 men who made up its crew. After days of intense search and nerves, yesterday the 25th the worst suspicions were confirmed, when remains of the submarine were located that could only correspond to a catastrophic sinking. In the next lines we will analyze both the probable causes of the sinking of the KRI Nanggala, as well as the lessons that we can extract and that are applicable to a Spanish Navy with clear problems in keeping the maintenance of its units up to date. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Ejercitos Magazine taking advantage of our offer for new subscribers through the following link.

The Italian Navy is at a key moment. In addition to the new threats and the redefinition of its naval strategy in response to them, there is the need to renew a good part of the ships in service, if it does not want to see this reduced by a third in the coming years. That is why they have recently published a series of documents and works that tell us both about an "elongated Mediterranean" and an "infinite Mediterranean" and have launched ambitious shipbuilding plans aimed at building new surface ships and submarines. If its plans come to fruition, Italy will ensure not only its presence in the Mare Nostrum, but far beyond, establishing itself as a key player at the regional level. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Ejercitos Magazine taking advantage of our offer [Keep reading…]

In recent days the accident of the Brazilian submarine S-40 Riachuelo has been in the news. As far as we know, it hit bottom after a water ingress while it was inside the Itaguaí base. So far, the Marinha do Brasil has not clarified an incident that, however, does not have many possible causes. Nor has any damage analysis been published, despite which - and always with caution - we can assure that they will be substantial and will require a significant review and investment. Throughout the next lines we will explain both the causes and the actions of the crew and the possible consequences of this accident, relying on graphs and the abundant data we have about the Scorpene. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Revista Ejercitos taking advantage of our offer for new subscribers through [Keep reading…]

The Spanish Navy has been temporarily left without operational submarines. Of the four in service during the past decade, two have been decommissioned, one is awaiting completion of its large hull and the fourth has just entered a scheduled period of works that will last a couple of months. Meanwhile, the first S-80 is still waiting to be launched in March 2021. In short, for at least two months the Spanish Navy will not have any submarine ready for service. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Ejercitos Magazine taking advantage of our offer for new subscribers through the following link.

Admiral Lacoste said that in naval warfare, submarines enjoy several tactical advantages: discretion, obtaining advanced information and the forcefulness of their attack. The advantages of nuclear submarines over conventional submarines are numerous, starting with their autonomy; an unnecessary advantage in case of defending yourself, as in the case of China, from the blockade of your coasts. The great drawback of nuclear weapons is their cost and that is why China is betting on increasing its enormous fleet of conventional submarines. This article sets out what steps China is taking to make the submarine the lynchpin of its naval strategy and how the United States should respond, recalling the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Ejercitos Magazine taking advantage of our offer for new subscribers through the following link.

The US Navy's Aegis BMD system has been developed to defend against the threat of ballistic missiles. On November 16, the United States Missile Defense Agency and the crew of the USS John Finn (DDG-113), a destroyer equipped with the Aegis BMD (Ballistic Missile Defense) system, intercepted and destroyed an intercontinental ballistic missile. (ICBM) with a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA missile during a test northeast of Hawaii. This test has been an enormous milestone, the first time that from the sea they have been able to intercept and destroy an ICBM, a system that allows all ships equipped with the Aegis BMD system to be used as advanced bases of the anti-missile shield, a milestone that affects to the offensive capacity of its possible rivals and that could be of great importance for the Spanish Navy. (Continues…) Dear reader, this article is [Keep reading…]

Talking about naval war - and even more so about naval war in the Strait - in these times of peace is something quite abnormal, first because it is an obsolete term, we have changed the term war to conflict, and second, because suffering from a war , it would not be naval but global war in all spheres: military, political, naval, land, and gray, a space that everyone talks about but that no one is able to define. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Ejercitos Magazine taking advantage of our offer for new subscribers through the following link.