* Ula class coastal submarines (from HazeGray)
Displacement: 1,150 tons submerged Dimensions: 59 x 5.4 x 4.6 meters/193.6 x 17.7 x 15.1 feet Propulsion: Diesel-electric, 2 diesels, 1 shaft, 6,000 hp, 23 knots Crew: 18-20 Sonar: CSU-83 suite, Sintra flank Armament: 8 21 inch torpedo tubes (14 torpedoes)
Concept/Program: A joint Norwegian-German project; the combat systems are Norwegian, attack sonar is German, flank sonar is French, hull sections were built in Norway, and the boats were assembled in Germany.
Builders: Thyssen Nordseewerke, Emden, Germany.
Number Name Year S300 Ula 1989 S301 Utsira 1992 S302 Utstein 1991 S303 Utvaer 1990 S304 Uthaug 1991 S305 Uredd 1990
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There is also a very up to date article at Wikipedia.
I understand that there are disagreements within Norway about the political process that led to this deployement, and I think that type of disagreement is healthy for any democracy. Nevertheless, I think that this is a good example of how to use military forces to prevent violence before it occurs, and it is very nice to see the NATO allies working together again.
I agree, if military equipment can be used to prevent violence from breaking out then that is the best way to use it.
This kind of joint intelligence/security operations will be more common in the future as NATO involves itself in so called out-of-area operations. The big question amongst politicians in the future will be how to define an out-of-area mission. As of today the definitions of such missions seems to be made at ad-hoc basis with no clear mandate. One example of such an ad-hoc definition is the use of NATO personell and equipment in Iraq. Bitsofnews.com Giving you the latest bits.
