UKRAINIAN engineers have built a stealth torpedo-launching submarine designed for hit-and-run missions to destroy enemy warships.
Analysts have tipped the streamline beast, known as Kronos, to change the future naval warfare, but more pressingly for Ukraine – it could help turn the tides of the Black Sea battle.
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Built in the Arabian desert by a crack team of Ukrainian engineers, Kronos can be both an attack submarine or a completely autonomous underwater drone – the first of its kind.
The futuristic-looking piece of kit looks more like a UFO than submarine – and its designers exclusively told The Sun “it will be ready in months”.
Unlike traditionally slow-moving, heavy subs, Kronos is designed to be the underwater equivalent of a stealth jet bomber.
Kronos should be able to sneak through the water, easily weaving and bombing at high speeds to target enemy warships, blitzing them with either its torpedoes or magnetic mines.
And it packs a punch with a payload of 3.5 tons.
Experts told The Sun that Kronos could do some “serious damage” to Russian targets in the Black Sea.
Its radar-dodging exterior is shaped like a manta ray – an animal known for its manoeuvrability and speed, which its designers say makes it more agile in the water.
It can be driven by a single pilot and carry up to 10 commandos for stealth missions lasting up to 36 hours and crossing up to 620 miles.
It will be fully ready in another four months
One of the engineers behind Kronos
But its also has a remote control mode that allows it to go on unmanned missions and be piloted from over 150 miles away.
Its creators also say Kronos can lead sabotage missions anywhere between 50ft to 820ft and glide through the water at 32mph, smashing the 23mph top speed of a US nuclear attack submarine.
And it’s supposed to be tough, slicing through waves towering at 19 feet tall.
Soon, it will be switching sand for sea – and Ukraine’s military is likely to be keeping a close eye on its developments.
Kronos was built by Highland Systems in the UAE because its founder once said you can get your hands on “anything” you want there as long as you have the cash.
A Ukrainian engineer at the company, who prefers to remain anonymous for security reasons, revealed to The Sun some of its most battle-ready characteristics.
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They said that having two engines on each wing “allows it to stay idle underwater which no other submarine – even the most expensive and sophisticated – can do”.
For its weaponry, “torpedoes can be installed on request of the potential governmental customer,” the source added.
Kronos can fit four to six of Italian defence company Leonardo’s small electric torpedoes, known as ‘Black Scorpion’ or two of its huge ‘Black Shark’ torpedoes.
It will also use a marine drone instead of a periscope that will be covered in a unique material, the engineer said, that will help make it invisible to enemy ships or subs.
The source also revealed that they already have customers ready to place orders as soon as the last phase of “modernisation and upgrades” is complete.
It could be a great asset for the Ukrainians
Matthrew Sweeney, US Navy sub commander
Remaining decidedly vague about who the interested parties are, the engineer added: “Kronos can be custom built to fulfil all requirements either civilian or military.”
“It has been ready since last year,” they said, but the team is waiting on the delivery of some final specially-designed parts.
Slashing previous estimates of when it would be operational, the engineer disclosed it will likely take just “four more months”.
CAN IT BE REAL?
For all the lofty claims surrounding what Kronos might be able to pull off, Matthew Sweeney, a submarine commander in the US Navy said that its design is “definitely feasible”.
Looking at the blueprints, he told The Sun: “In theory, yes, it could do those types of missions – sneaking in and disabling ships… there’s a great value in its design”.
Although Sweeney – who has spent 37 years on submarines – did question some elements of its design, including how such a sophisticated machine could be fixed or maintained in the throes of war.
Yet, he noted that such a “small, fast and easy to manoeuvre” submarine would be “hard to detect” and could so some “serious damage” to enemy vessels.
Its design, he added, suggests it would be able to carry out quick attacks “without sailors ever knowing what happened.”
“Every nation out there that has a robust naval force is looking at these smaller, manned or unmanned, submersible vehicles to do these kind of missions.”
“It is definitely feasible,” Commander Sweeney said, adding Kronos was “very exciting”.
And in the tug of war battle for superiority over the Black Sea that is raging between Russia and Ukraine, it is a “big game-changer,” he said.
“It could be a great asset for the Ukrainians.”
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THE BLACK SEA BATTLE
Ukraine has now sunk a third of Putin’s once fearsome Black Sea fleet and what’s left of it is in the midst of relocating to a naval base in a breakaway Georgian region.
With no real functioning navy of their own, the surprise success has been their sea drone attacks, including their homegrown fleet of ‘Sea Baby’ vessels.
The relatively cheap killing machines have been blasting multi-million warships out the water, humiliating Putin on the world stage.
However, Ukraine cannot take the fight underwater to target Russia’s three missile-carrying submarines that dangerously lurk deep down in the Black Sea.
Valerii Riabykh, a former consultant to Ukraine’s military, said Kronos could be the “answer to Ukraine’s prayers.”
He told The Sun that this submarine is “exactly” what Kyiv needs to finish off the job of wiping out the Black Sea fleet.
“Ukraine has no means to fight against Russian submarines underwater.
“The only instrument it has is Storm Shadow missiles which it used to take out a sub at the [Crimea] base when it was being repaired above water.”
Riabykh, who is also editor of Defence Express, came face-to-face with the 37th prototype last year and claimed the Ukrainian military are very interested in Kronos.
Originally it was designed to be a commercial sub, but as Russia invaded Ukraine over two years ago, work began to rapidly transform it into a combat vessel.
Now, it’s been adapted to perform a “fully-fledged military operation…. including reconnaissance, scout missions across enemy lines and attacking enemy ships,” Riabykh said.
One day, he argued, “it will help Ukraine’s security services and navy complete the banishment of Russia from the Black Sea.”
During its latest unveiling in 2023, Western navy commanders were said to be in awe of its design.
A spokesperson from Highland Systems told Fast Company: “We had some current commanders and former commanders of submarine forces from Nato countries inspecting it in absolute disbelief.”
Riabykh believes it is perfect for sabotage operations, stating it could creep close to Crimea’s coast or even be used to help blow up Putin’s most beloved £3billion bridge.
For Ukraine, the 12 mile Kerch Bridge, Russia’s only land bridge to occupied Crimea is target number one on their list.
Read more on the Irish Sun
The Sun recently told of how Kyiv could finally blitz the bridge with Storm Shadow missiles, sea drones and newly arrived F-16s.
Destroying it would be a major step in winning the war in the Black Sea by cutting off a major Russian military supply route and choking Putin’s war machine.
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