Brothers - Submariners for Life

Bulgaria's Navy Needs New Ships, Submarines

Bulgaria's Navy need 2-3 new multifunctional ships, said the commander of the Bulgarian Navy, Rear Admiral Dimitar Denev, quoted by the BTA wire service.

The ships should be built in Bulgarian shipyards, because the current ones are old, Russian-made and do not comply with NATO standards. If they are built in Bulgaria, they would be cheaper and the maintenance would be easier, in Denev's words.

According to Denev, the new ships must be multifunctional – for defence of other ships, oil platforms and convoys and have a helicopter on board.

He said the Navy also needs new submarines. Currently the training of Bulgaria's navy staff takes place on Turkish submarines, because Bulgaria has zero submarines

Two ex-military officers charged as spies for China, passing on submarine secret

wo retired military personnel yesterday were indicted for allegedly serving as Chinese spies, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office announced yesterday.

The two, surnamed Chien (錢) and Lu (盧), were found attempting to collect information for Chinese government from military personnel they knew, said in the indictment.

The prosecutors indicted the two under charges of violating the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪汙治罪條例),

Lu, who previously served at the Air Defense Missile Command until his retirement in 2005, was recruited by Chinese intelligence agents in China's Xiamen City, when he was doing business there, the indictment said.

Lu successfully persuaded Chien, a former Navy officer discharged in 2009, to join him in his alleged espionage activity after paying the latter US$1,000 and 2,000 yuan.

The two later offered Chang Chih-hsin (張祉鑫), a former manager at the Naval Meteorological & Oceanographic Office (METOC) and Chang's wife, a free trip to Cebu in the Philippines in an attempt to recruit Chang.

They also paid Chang US$2,000 in exchange for his service in recruiting more current and former military personnel to pass military secrets to Beijing, the indictment said.

The METOC is responsible for mapping the maritime areas surrounding Taiwan.

Chang is now facing charges for passing confidential nautical charts that show maritime areas and adjacent coastal regions of Taiwan waters and related information on Taiwan's submarine project to the Chinese mainland.

Surfaced

Russian submarine passes Arctic trials

The unique submarine named Kalitka took a soil sample from the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, proving that the Mendeleev Ridge belongs to Russia’s continental shelf.

The deep-sea, nuclear-powered ‘Kalitka’ submarine has been engaged in underwater drilling operations on the Mendeleev Shelf in the Arctic Ocean, as part of the Arktika-2012 expedition. A source at the Russian Ministry of Defence told Izvestia that the submarine helped make adjustments to the drilling operations carried out from the ‘Kapitan Dranitsyn’ and ‘Dikson’ diesel-electric icebreakers, in order to identify the outer bounds of Russia’s continental shelf.

“The joint effort resulted in a substantial amount of geological material,” the source said. “More than 500 kilograms of classifiable rocks were selected. The results of the survey will underlie Russia’s application to the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, to allow extension of Russia’s continental shelf – the initial application having been rejected because of a lack of geological evidence – and grant Russia the priority right to develop the deposits located on the shelf.”

Referring to the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, he stated that the Mendeleev Ridge and the Lomonosov Ridge had combined oil and gas reserves of more than 5.5 billion tonnes of oil equivalent.

The expedition explored the entire ridge, drilled three wells at two sites and collected soil samples. Kalitka operated at a depth of 1.5-1.9 miles for a period of 20 days. Powered by a nuclear reactor and equipped with a unique titanium hull, the submarine is able to stay in deep water much longer than battery-powered civilian bathyscaphes.

Kalitka is carried by the adapted Project 667 ‘Kalmar’ submarine with disassembled ballistic missile launching tubes – the bathyscaphe is carried beneath it.

“We are in need of such machines. Besides Losharik [a nickname given to Kalitka due to its peculiar shape], only ‘Mir’ deep-sea stations are capable of working at depths of 2-3 kilometres (1.2-1.9 miles). We used both Mir stations during the previous expedition led by Artur Chilingarov. But the operations we performed recently were even more complicated and took more time. Mir stations can’t support themselves that long, so we decided to use Losharik,” the Izvestia source said.

According to a representative of the Ministry of Defence, a Mir station uses batteries that can last 72 hours underwater, while Kalitka is a full-scale submarine with a nuclear reactor that secures it a few months of self-contained operation. Losharik has a recreation room for its crew, workrooms and a kitchen. The air and water regeneration systems are as good as those installed in spacecraft.

“The Mir stations are pleasure bathyscaphes rather than research machines – they have weak manipulators with limited mobility, and you can’t install deep-sea sounding equipment on them,” the Ministry of Defence representative said.

Top-secret submarine may settle Russia’s claim in the Arctic

A unique Arctic expedition has brought a top-secret Russian submarine into the limelight. The AS-12 bathyscaphe Losharik has now been enlisted to help Russia gain evidence of its right to territorial waters in the Arctic. 

Moscow is prepared to present evidence to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea that would expand Russia’s territorial waters in the Arctic, thus asserting its right to the bed of the Arctic that is extremely rich in hydrocarbons. Russia filed a similar application once before, but the bid was turned down due to a lack of geological samples. The new evidence has been obtained by AS-12 Losharik – Russia’s top-secret deep-sea nuclear-powered bathyscaphe.

The North Pole expedition was undertaken in late September as part of the Arctic 2012 research project. The mission required working at a depth of 1.5-1.8 miles for 20 days. The deep-sea station collected earth samples using robotic arms, a dredging device (a rock filtration system), a clamp bucket (a scoop with a video camera) and a hydrostatic sampler. The results of the sample tests will be released in early 2013, when they are also expected to be handed over to the United Nations.

Until recently, the competing territorial claims to the Arctic made by Russia, Norway, Canada, the U.S. and Denmark have been ineffectual, since, apart from political statements, none of the countries has been able to provide any factual evidence to justify their claims. If Losharik’s recent operation does not close the matter for good, then it at least puts Russia ahead of the game. Before Losharik, no one had been able to bring up any actual samples from the seabed that could formally prove Russia right.

Meanwhile, little is actually known about the main character in the story – the nuclear-powered deep-sea bathyscaphe AS-12, nicknamed Losharik (NATO reporting name NORSUB-5).

One of the reasons behind the scarce public knowledge is the fact that the submarine was created for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Defense Ministry and, given the specific nature of the ministry’s mission, was never intended to be declassified – just like an undercover spy. However, Moscow eventually decided to go all in and play for the sake of winning the territorial dispute.

The submarine was dubbed Losharik for its extraordinary shape: Its hull consists of spherical titanium modules. The nickname comes from the name of a Soviet cartoon character – a funny little horse with a body made up of small spheres.

According to its engineers, the unusual hull construction permits the 196-foot-long bathyscaphe to withstand the enormous pressure of ocean depths of up to 3.7 miles. Losharik is powered by a small nuclear reactor with a fundamentally new model of nuclear steam generating plant: the KTP-7I Fenix. The reactor enables the bathyscaphe to travel at a speed of up to 30 knots (37 miles) per hour and does not limit the time it can stay submerged in virtually any way. The crew consists of 25 officers.

The bathyscaphe is carried by the K-129 Orenburg submarine, which is a Project 667BDR Kalmar strategic nuclear submarine redesigned specifically for the purpose.

While assigned to Russia’s Northern Fleet, the submarine is not actually part of it, as it remains an asset of the Main Intelligence Directorate. It is stationed at Olenya Bay, where Russia’s naval spies are based.

While the AS-12 does not carry any weapons, it still poses a serious threat to the national security of many countries, since it is equipped to perform intelligence and diversion operations at depths out of reach of any other vessel in the world. 

The kind of operations that the vessel could perform include using its mechanical arms not only to collect seabed samples, but also to disrupt telecommunications between continents or, conversely, plant wiretaps, which, even if detected, would be impossible to remove because of the depths.

There is also an apocalyptic theory that the work of designing the bathyscaphe was launched back when a nuclear conflict between Moscow and Washington was still on the table. The bathyscaphe is believed to have been intended to become an invincible carrier of a gigantic T-15 thermonuclear torpedo (5 feet in diameter) developed by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Andrei Sakharov.

The Soviets believed that, if detonated at a depth of 3.7 miles, the torpedo could generate an unprecedented and deadly tsunami that would wash away an entire coast of the United States, West or East.

Whatever their past plans, Moscow and Washington are now partners intent on resolving their disagreements at the negotiating table. This was the main reason why, in the mid-1990s, Russia almost stopped financing the Losharik project. The country even invited the United States to be a co-investor, suggesting that the deep-sea bathyscaphe could be involved in rescue operations.

While Losharik failed to become a rescue vessel, it has nevertheless proved a very valuable national security asset.

Upgraded Indian Submarine starts Sea Trials in Russia

An Indian Kilo class diesel-electric submarine that has been overhauled at the Zvezdochka shipyard in northern Russia has sailed for two-week sea trials, the company said.

INS Sindhurakshak, which was handed over to the Indian Navy in 1997, has been upgraded under a direct contract between the Zvezdochka shipyard and the Indian defence ministry, signed June 4, 2010.

"The Indian submarine, which has been repaired and modernized at the Zvezdochka shipyard, sailed for sea trials on Monday," the company said in a statement.

The upgrade programme stipulated a complete overhaul of the submarine, including its hull structures, as well as improved control systems, electronic warfare systems, and an integrated weapon control system. The upgrade is reported to cost around $80 million.

The sub is expected to be delivered to India by the end of 2012, following a series of additional tests.

Russia has built ten Kilo class submarines for India and has already overhauled four of them: INS Sindhuvir, INS Sindhuratna, INS Sindhughosh, and INS Sindhuvijay.

The overhauled Indian submarines are equipped with 3M-54 Club-S (SS-N-27) anti-ship cruise missiles, the Indian-developed USHUS sonar, CCS-MK radio communications system and Porpoise radar.

Rescuing a submarine and its sailors: India practices with US help

What happens if one of India's 15 submarines malfunctions underwater and sinks with its crew on board? As India is forced to operate an aging fleet - some over two decades old - the prospect of facing such a situation is almost real. It is perhaps to address this gap that for the first time India-US will be carrying out an exercise to rescue its trapped submarines. This is first that the Indian Navy will carry out such a complex exercise.

The Indo-US submarine rescue exercise named 'INDIAEX-2012' will start tomorrow and is likely to continue for nearly a month. During the exercise, four Indian submarines are likely to sail into the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai and simulate a distress situation.

The Deep Submergence Rescue vehicles ( DSRV) of the US Navy's Undersea Rescue Command will then get into action and try to pull out the trapped sailors.

"The exercise will be carried out at various depths and differing conditions," a senior Navy officer told NDTV. In a complicated operation, once the distress signal is received, the Indian Navy will use the last known positions, route map, speed and other parameters to try and establish the likely location of the submarine in trouble.

That information will be passed onto the US team, who will then make a dash to the spot and lower a DSRV, which is essentially a mini-submarine equipped with robotic arms, underwater cameras and pressurized chambers capable of transporting about 20 -22 sailors at a time.

"Once the disabled submarine is located and its condition ascertained, the DSRVs, using a complicated and delicate underwater maneuver, mates the escape hatch of the disabled submarine and pulls out the trapped sailors," a senior Naval officer told NDTV.

DSRVs can operate up to a depth of about 610 meters underwater.

Currently, Indian submarines depend on pressurized escape suits and deep sea divers to rescue submarine crews. But this procedure to evacuate trapped sailors is effective in only in very shallow depths.

On August 12, 2000, K-141 Kursk of the Russian Navy - perhaps the biggest nuclear-powered attack submarine - sank following two explosions on board. All the 118 sailors on board died in the accident. Nine days after the incident, when Russia finally accepted international help, deep sea navy divers reached the boat on the sea-bed to find that 23 sailors including the captain had escaped the first explosion and secured themselves in the stern of the boat. But by the time the navy divers reached them, it was too late.

India operates a submarine fleet of 15 including a recently-acquired nuclear-powered hunter killer submarine from Russia - INS Chakra. The indigenously-produced INS Arihant is capable of carrying nuclear warheads and is likely to start its sea trials soon. And by 2015, India is likely to get the first of the much-delayed Scropene submarines from France. The Navy will get a total of six Scorpene submarines by 2020 if there are no further delays.

The Indian Navy's effort to procure its own DSRV has been struck in bureaucratic delays for years. As an alternative, it entered into an agreement with the Undersea Rescue Command of the US Navy in 1997. But it's only now that the deal is being implemented.

Last year, India has floated the first "Request for Proposal (RFP)" to purchase a DSRV. "A Russian and British firm has responded to the RFP and negotiations are at a very preliminary stage" officers told SW.

Russia, Italy revisit S1000 non-nuclear sub project

Russia and Italy have revisited the project of S1000 non-nuclear submarine. The project was frozen four years ago. This small submarine has been designed specifically for exports to the third world countries - Egypt, Morocco and others. According to latest reports, there will be only 20, not 50 percent of Russian components in the new submarine. However, Russia will be responsible for the promotion of the submarine on the market.

In particular, not that long ago, the sides discussed an opportunity to restart the joint project. They named several specific measures to promote the submarine in the world market, and agreed to cut the cost of the ship. The last detail is the most interesting one. How is it possible to make a submarine cheaper and more affordable for international customers?

According to reports that appeared in Russian and Western media, the project will become less expensive by abandoning the use of Russia-designed Club missiles underwater launch systems. This, in turn, would cut the costs for their transportation to Italy and customs clearance. According to latest agreements, the ratio of Russian and Italian components in the sub now makes up 20 to 80 respectively (vs. the previous 50 to 50). Thus, Russia will have only one-fifth in the future submarine.

During the conceptual design stage, it was planned to equip the future submarine with Italian-French remote-controlled Black Shark torpedoes and Club complexes that may boast of many years of faultless operation. Why has Club become so expensive all of a sudden?

The fact that the boat has been designed for sales to not very wealthy third world countries - Egypt, Indonesia and Morocco. However, the list of potential buyers includes not a very "poor" country - South Africa.

According to the Kommersant, Russian state company Rosoboronexport (defense export corporation) will be responsible for the international promotion of the submarine. This function originally belonged to the Italian side. The decision may be related to the fact that Russia sells most of its weapons through Rosoboronexport: the corporation has extensive international ties.

The unique project S1000 was launched in 2004. The project is being developed by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri and the Russian Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering Rubin (based in St. Petersburg). The same design bureau works on strategic nuclear submarines for the Russian Navy. In particular, Rubin designs state-of-the-art nuclear-powered submarines of Borei and Borei-A projects.

The works on S1000 sub were conducted in accordance with the technical inquiry and at the expense of the Italian Navy. The conceptual design was practically completed in 2008. Afterwards, the project was virtually shelved due to the lack of funds. It was assumed that a small non-nuclear sub would operate in warm waters, near islands and in shallow waters.

It was originally believed that the construction of S1000 submarines would be Italy's prerogative. The time for the development of technical documentation and the construction of the lead ship was limited to 48 months from the signing of the first contract.

Noteworthy, neither the Italian nor the Russian navies intend to pass S1000 submarines into service. The submarine will be produced exclusively for exports to third countries.

Indeed, Russia will not be able to use such subs due to the geographical position of the country. Russia is washed by cold seas only, and transporting small submarines to tropical areas does not make any sense, officials with the Russian navy believe.

With the length of 56.2 meters, the diameter of 5.5 meters and the displacement of about 1,100 tons, the submarine can reach the speed of up to 14 knots. The immersion depth of S1000 makes up 250 meters. The crew will consist of 16 men and six troops.

Dear Last Resort: You can’t turn mass murder into a minor subplot

There are movie ideas and there are TV show ideas. Plenty of movies have been turned into great TV shows, and vice versa — but there are some ideas that can only work in movies or television. Some ideas need 100 hours, some can only support two.

Beginning to wonder if Last Resort is just an idea that would work for a movie, but not so much as a weekly TV show?.

So as various people have already pointed out, there's already been a movie along sort of the same lines as Last Resort — 1995's Crimson Tide. Last Resort's approach to trying to turn the premise of a nuclear submarine crew that mutinies rather than launch nukes into a weekly series is: 1) develop the situation of the submarine crew being on a tropical island, where they have to make it work with the locals, and 2) delve into the eeeeeevil conspiracy behind the order to launch nukes, back in Washington DC.

And this week's episode really tries to make both of those things work. In the "A" plot, the local strongman Julian Serrat has kidnapped three of the submarine crewmembers, and Captain Chaplin is forced to basically become a drug runner to get them back. It's pretty horrible and demoralizing, and erodes any sense that these people actually stand for any sort of principles. In the "B" plot, Kylie Sinclair keeps digging into the mystery of the "fire" order that came through the Antarctic network — only to have the secrets of her prototype Cloaking Device stolen. Oh, and there's a "C" plot where the Navy SEAL guy goes swimming with Dichen Lachman, who has daddy issues.

It's all perfectly serviceable, but I'm not sure any of it is that compelling. Julian Serrat was set up in the pilot as being sort of a petty thug, but in this episode he's suddenly a murderous arch-fiend whom Captain Chaplin somehow can't swat like a bug. I kind of like the idea that Chaplin is forced to get his hands dirty, and even swallow the death of one of his men at Serrat's hands, because he can't afford to fight a war on two fronts — but they haven't made Serrat the fascinating character he needs to be for any of this to work. Plus I was so grossed out by the idea that Lopez had sex with Serrat to buy herself and the other hostages some time, I could barely focus on the rest of this storyline. Guh.

The rest of the island characters remain even less fascinating than Serrat, too — I honestly could not have cared any less about whether Sophie the "Nutella is better than sex" woman left the island forever or not. And all of the "Dichen Lachman goes swimming" sequences left me kind of nonplussed. (Plus didn't Navy SEAL guy have a whole team with him? Where did they go?)

And I'm all for digging into the big conspiracy behind the nuking of Pakistan and the attack on the Colorado — yes please! — but only if we actually learn something. Like, why the Deputy Sec Def? Why the Antarctic Network? Was this behind the President's back? And if so, is the President now on board with it after the fact? Why is the Deputy Sec Def now the Sec Def, just a day or two later? You'd think the news media would be curious about a change of Defense Secretary at this crucial time, actually.

Which brings me to the biggest problem I have with Last Resort right now: they nuked Pakistan and it's a minor plot point. (I apologize to anyone who's bothered that I mention this in the headline of this piece. I don't think it's really a spoiler at this point, since it appears to be part of the basic premise of Last Resort, like "the police box is a time machine" is for Doctor Who. And it's at the root of my main issue with the show.)

Everything that happens here, including Chaplin trying to get three of his people back, feels like a minor sideline compared to the enormity of millions of people dying.

The nuking of Pakistan is actually mentioned once in this episode, when we see a talking head on television trotting out an (apparently false) story about Pakistan having portable nukes that were going to be used in a terrorist attack, unless the U.S. acted first. And as Kylie observes, a nuclear first strike is now apparently the new default policy of the United States, which in itself is a huge big deal.

But also, we still haven't seen any of the fallout (so to speak) from this attack. We haven't even seen any images of the devastation in Pakistan, or how people are coping there. There are no Pakistani characters in the show. Just how many people actually died, out of the 177 million people in the country? And no other dominos have fallen. (Okay, so maybe this wouldn't be World War III right off the bat. But how would India react? What would happen in Afghanistan? This is a complicated region we're talking about here.) Is there some debate among U.S. political figures about the ethics of preemptive nuking as a defense strategy?

I guess that one reason the pilot of Last Resort was so thrilling was because they went there and actually blew up a goddamn country full of millions of people. Which was a gutsy, insane move. But now they gotta follow through. And the events of this show, the submarine hiding out on an island full of wacky people, only really make sense against the backdrop of the whole goddamn world falling apart. If they really want to make nuking Pakistan no big deal, or just a pot simmering on the back burner, then my suspension of disbelief is going to keep getting more and more strained.

On the plus side, they got the COB (the great Robert Patrick) out of the brig, by having him make a deal with Captain Chaplin — the COB will go back to doing his job and following orders, and meanwhile Chaplin will try his best to get home for a court martial as fast as he can, where Prosser can be the star witness. I'm glad they've explicitly stated that as the goal now.

Precise underwater navigation with sonar is aim of Navy research contract to Penn State

Researchers at Penn State University in University Park, Pa., are designing a sonar-based underwater navigation system for the U.S. Navy that will enable submarines and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) maintain position underwater safely by following known ocean-floor terrain features.

This technology, called bathymetric navigation with sonar, matches sonar images of terrain below the undersea vehicle to known terrain maps of the ocean bottom. This approach is similar to how an airplane pilot navigates under visual flight rules (VFR) matching what he sees below the aircraft to aviation maps.

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) in Arlington, Va., awarded a $1.2 million contract Thursday to the Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State for the Broadband Navigation Sonar System program, which seeks to develop a bathymetric underwater navigation device, which could be applicable to submarines, UUVs, and other subsurface vessels.

The contract is part of an ONR research solicitation issued originally in 2010 entitled Navigation and Timekeeping Technology, which seeks to develop affordable and reliable precision navigation and timing systems for situations in which the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite navigation network is not available -- such as when operating underwater.

The lack of precise navigation and timekeeping technologies as alternatives to GPS may jeopardize the success of military operations, ONR researchers point out.

The ONR Navigation and Timekeeping Technology program seeks to develop new navigation technologies that will provide more accurate, reliable, maintainable, and affordable systems for naval aircraft, surface warships, submarines, UUVs, and fixed-site installations in the absence of GPS signals.

The non-GPS Navigation Technology component of the Navigation and Timekeeping Technology program -- for which the Penn State Applied Research Laboratory won this contract -- seeks to develop a small, portable quantum physics-based gravimeter/accelerometer for underwater navigation application; a bathymetric underwater navigation device by sonar and light detection and ranging (lidar); and precise navigation in littoral sub-surface and surface navigation using various sensors such as sonar, radar, and lidar.

The the Penn State Applied Research Lab is expert in technologies for acoustics, guidance and control, thermal energy systems, hydrodynamics, hydroacoustics, propulsion, materials and manufacturing, navigation and GPS, communications, and information.

The lab develops gyroscopes, accelerometers, gravimeters, gradiometers, speed sensors, inertial navigators, geophysical navigation, radio and satellite navigation systems, celestial navigation systems, and integrated navigation systems.

The lab's navigation expertise extends to inertial navigators; gyrocompasses; GPS; passive navigators; gravity and terrain estimation systems; magnetic navigation systems; bathymetric navigation systems.

Bathymetry is the study of underwater depth of lake or ocean floors. Bathymetric charts support safety of surface or sub-surface navigation, and usually show seafloor relief or terrain as contour lines and selected depths for surface and underwater navigation.

Bathymetric maps also use a digital terrain model and artificial illumination techniques to show ocean depths and subsurface topography.

For more information contact the Penn State Applied Research Lab online at www.arl.psu.edu, or the Office of Naval Research at www.onr.navy.mil.

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The Next Generation of Cocaine-Smuggling Drug Submarines

The latest models come with A/C, shark paint jobs and quick-scuttle technology to easily sink the ship (and the drugs inside them)

Sinking the Submarine The U.S. Coast Guard released this photo of a sinking self-propelled semi-submersible that U.S. and Honduran officials interdicted in north of Honduras on March 30, 2012. The splotch you can see on the sub was actually water on the photographer's lens. Courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

Drug smugglers will resort to any number of creative DIY solutions for bringing their illicit goods to the United States, from marijuana catapults to mega-tunnels. But a new fleet of diesel-powered, fully submersible narco-subs could be the bane of law enforcement’s existence.

Far from the rickety, barely-submerged metal husks first discovered a few years ago, the latest fiberglass models come equipped with air conditioning, shark paint jobs and quick-scuttle technology, to easily sink the ship and the drugs inside them. The subs would be “the envy of all but a few nations,” as the New York Times describes them.

Intelligence officials first heard of drug-smuggling subs in the 1990s, but the vessels didn’t start getting serious attention until 2006, in the eastern Pacific Ocean. In November of that year, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a semi-submersible they dubbed “Bigfoot,” because officials weren’t sure it existed until they saw it. Now, federal authorities have seized at least 25 such ships in the Pacific.

But new versions are cropping up in new locations. Drug submarines hadn’t been spotted in the Caribbean until August of last year, but now they are growing in number, according to the Times. There have been five interceptions in the Caribbean so far, according to the Coast Guard.

In a raid last August, Coast Guard officers intercepted 15,000 pounds of cocaine, worth $180 million, in a sub captured off the coast of Honduras — the first time a submarine was intercepted in the Caribbean. That was a semi-submersible model, made of fiberglass and wood and painted to blend in with the sea surface.

The government has since captured three newer, fully submersible models, which can haul 10 tons of cocaine and conceivably travel beneath the surface all the way from Ecuador to Los Angeles, according to the Times.

The semi-submersibles are typically a little less than 100 feet long, and can carry four or five crewmembers and up to 10 metric tons of drugs, the Coast Guard says. Officials estimate they’re very cheap to make, costing about $1 million and capable of moving $150 million to $180 million in cocaine per load, according to the Miami Herald.

Retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the former U.S. drug czar and a SOCOM commander, told the Herald this spring that the first subs were far from advanced — he evoked memories of the Monitor and the Merrimack, the wooden subs from the American Civil War. “It was Colombian, they had two Russian engineers, probably just unemployed sub guys helping to design the thing,” McCaffrey told the newspaper. “I thought it was the silliest thing I ever heard of in my life.”

Nowadays, things are definitely different: The newer, more sophisticated subs are probably built by independent contractors, who more than likely would sell them to the highest bidder. This has counterterrorism officials worried, the Times says. The subs are built in the thick jungles of central America, where they would be hard to detect via aerial surveillance.

But sometimes they can be found in their drydock states. In 2010 Drug Enforcement Agency, the and the Ecuadoran military seized a submarine that had been built and hidden in the jungle. That twin-screw, diesel electric-powered sub was about nine feet high from the deck to the ceiling, according to the DEA. It was about 30 meters (98 feet) long and described as “sophisticated,” even containing its own air conditioning system. That sub never set sail, but the discovery in Honduras pointed to a potential Caribbean fleet. Now it sounds like a growing trend.

Drug Submarine: This narco-sub was seized in Ecuador in 2010, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.