HSwMS Orion | |
History | |
---|---|
Sweden | |
Name | Orion |
Builder | Kockums |
Launched | June 1984 |
Homeport | Karlskrona |
Identification |
|
Status | In active service |
General characteristics | |
Type | Signals intelligence gathering vessel |
Displacement | 1,400 tons |
Length | 61.2 m (200 ft 9 in) |
Beam | 11.7 m (38 ft 5 in) |
Draught | 3.8 m (12 ft 6 in) |
Propulsion | 2 x Hedemora diesels |
Speed | 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Complement | 26 |
HSwMS Orion (A201) is a signals intelligence gathering vessel of the Swedish Navy. [1]
HSwMS Orion was launched in 1984. She was built with extensive support from the United States National Security Agency. [2] In November 1985, HSwMS Orion was rammed by a Soviet minesweeper after she got too close to a Soviet naval exercise. [3] In 1998 Orion received a false bomb threat, which was widely covered in the Swedish newspapers. The ship is operated by Swedish Navy officers and sailors, as well as personnel from the National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA). HSwMS Orion belongs to the 1st Submarine Division. Orion shares a hull design with the Fiskeriverkets vessel Argos, an official fishing control vessel.
On 22 April 2010, the government of Sweden approved the acquisition of a new ship to replace HSwMS Orion since it no longer meets current sea safety rules. [4] [5]
On 17 April 2017, a new intelligence ship was ordered, HSwMS Artemis, from the Saab Group. The new ship is to be commissioned by 2020 and has a displacement of 2,200 tons. [6] Construction started on 1 March 2018 at the Polish shipyard Nauta that was selected by Sweden to build the new ship. [7]
The Visby class is a series of corvettes in use by the Swedish Navy. It is the latest class of corvette adopted by the navy after the Göteborg- and Stockholm-class corvettes. Its design emphasizes low visibility radar cross-section and infrared signature, and the class has received widespread international attention because of its capabilities as a stealth ship. The first ship in the class is named after Visby, the main city on the island of Gotland.
The National Defence Radio Establishment is a Swedish government agency organised under the Ministry of Defence. The two main tasks of FRA are signals intelligence (SIGINT), and support to government authorities and state-owned companies regarding computer security.
Saab Kockums AB is a shipyard headquartered in Malmö, Sweden, owned by the Swedish defence company Saab AB. Saab Kockums AB is further operational in Muskö, Docksta, and Karlskrona. While having a history of civil vessel construction, Kockums' most renowned activity is the fabrication of military corvettes and submarines.
HSwMS Gotland (Gtd) is a defense submarine of the Swedish Navy. It was the first ship of the Gotland-class, which was the first operational submarine class in the world to use air-independent propulsion in the form of Stirling engines which use liquid oxygen and diesel as the propellant.
A spy ship or reconnaissance vessel is a dedicated ship intended to gather intelligence, usually by means of sophisticated electronic eavesdropping. In a wider sense, any ship intended to gather information could be considered a spy ship.
The Gotland-class submarines of the Swedish Navy are modern diesel-electric submarines, which were designed and built by the Kockums shipyard in Sweden. They are the first submarines in the world to feature a Stirling engine air-independent propulsion (AIP) system, which extends their underwater endurance from a few days to weeks. This capability had previously only been available with nuclear-powered submarines.
HSwMS Carlskrona is the longest vessel in the Swedish Navy at 105.7 metres. Only Belos, the submarine rescue vessel, has a greater displacement. She was originally designed as a minelayer and is also used for exercise expeditions. She replaced HSwMS Älvsnabben in both roles.
HSwMS Visby (K31) is the lead ship of the Visby-class corvettes. It was created as a stealth ship, and underwent a decade long testing phase before it entered service with the Swedish Navy.
The Göteborg class is a class of corvettes in the Swedish Navy, built between 1986 and 1993. The class was originally designed to destroy Soviet submarines and surface vessels, and is armed with eight RBS-15 anti-ship missiles, torpedoes, one 57 mm cannon, and one 40 mm cannon.
The Finnish Defence Intelligence Agency is the combined signals (SIGINT), geospatial (GEOINT) and imagery intelligence (IMINT) agency of the Finnish Defence Forces. Operational since 2014, its responsibility is to support the defence of Finland through information gathering and analysis as an intelligence agency, organic to the Intelligence Division of Defence Command.
Signals intelligence operational platforms are employed by nations to collect signals intelligence, which is intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether between people or between machines, or mixtures of the two. As sensitive information is often encrypted, signals intelligence often involves the use of cryptanalysis. However, traffic analysis—the study of who is signalling whom and in what quantity—can often produce valuable information, even when the messages themselves cannot be decrypted.
The Blekinge-class submarine is the next generation of submarines developed by Kockums for the Swedish Navy, also known as the A26 type.
HSwMS Helsingborg (K32) is a Swedish Visby-class corvette. She was ordered by the Swedish Government in 1995 and is the second ship of the class built by Kockums. She has been in active service with the 31st Corvette Squadron, 3rd Naval Warfare Flotilla since 19 December 2009. It is a stealth missile corvette.
HSwMS Härnösand (K33) is the third ship of the Visby-class corvettes ordered by the Swedish Government and built by Kockums. The Härnösand is designed for mine countermeasures and anti-submarine warfare.
Sweden played a role of major importance during the Cold War, despite not officially participating. Sweden's location made it an ideal base of operations for both the Soviet Union and the United States. Sweden was never invaded throughout the war, mainly due to their strong defensive power - ranked among the top five in the world at this time.
Orion is the name of various ships and a ship class:
At least two ships of the Swedish Navy have been named HSwMS Orion,
HSwMS Artemis is a signals intelligence gathering vessel currently in service for the Swedish Navy.
HSwMS Gävle (K22) is a Swedish Navy Göteborg-class corvette, named after the Swedish city of Gävle.
The Luleå class is a Swedish corvette class under development. In total four ships are planned to be built by Saab Kockums. The first two ships are to be commissioned by 2030 and two more by 2035. In June 2023 it was announced that the ships would receive names after Swedish coastal cities:
A SIGINT-vessel is mainly used to intercept radio transmitted signals. The Swedish Navy currently uses HMS Orion for this purpose. HMS Orion was launched by Kockums into service in 1984.