HMS Södermanland is a Swedish naval submarine that was launched in 1988. On behalf of the Swedish Armed Forces, FMV has signed an overhaul agreement that includes going through existing equipment to ensure the submarine’s operational availability and making necessary modifications to meet changed requirements. In this article, we will highlight the importance of extensive upgrades that will keep the submarine’s capabilities for years to come.

Image from: Första Ubåtsflottiljen
What do we know about HMS Södermanland?
HMS Södermanland is the third ship of the Västergötland-class submarine and was named after Södermanland, Sweden in 1988. Since then, this submarine has been under life extension one time in 2000. Through the extension, the submarine was lengthened by 12 meters and fitted with an air-independent Stirling engine which increase efficiency most significantly in order to operate in international warm and salty underwater for several weeks.
After 12 years, FMV has signed the second agreement with Saab Kockums AB in Muskö, outside Stockholm, to upgrade the submarine HMS Södermanland within the framework of continued operation. This extension will be the submarine’s second life extension which according to an article from FMV, “includes a number of modifications aimed at technically maintaining the submarine’s capacity, service life and availability”. The goal is to ensure the maintenance of HMS Södermanland’s capabilities for another six years.
According to the agreement, the lifetime extension is carried out in parallel with the general overhaul, which is 72 months of maintenance.
What has to be considered in this life extension?
The life extension strategy has been developed with both technical and management support expertise to ensure that it will deliver a safe, capable, available, and maintainable platform for the duration of the extension period.
When the end-use of a computer is in a military submarine, that computer has to be designed to withstand shock events to military standards. Submarines, such as warcraft, are subject to high levels of shock from collisions or nearby weapon detonation and a submarine computer must be able to handle the blow, while not creating projectiles that could damage other equipment or imperil personnel. This is where Ruggeddized Technologies stepped in to help.
A ruggedized computing device could be used by the military to support mission-critical weapons, radar and communications systems, or by industries to support assembly line automation and to collect field data. Any program or application that requires durability and powerful performance can benefit from the introduction of a rugged computer or device. If you want to learn more about rugged devices, read our blog.
Expando AB specializes in fully rugged servers, rugged mission computers, rugged servers, routers and switches. We act as representatives or distributors for first-class suppliers and our aim is to be your long-term reliable partner. To discuss your rugged server needs with us get in touch.