Ubåt - Narko sub tatt - Aerospace & Defence

Why The Navy’s Latest Narco Submarine Seizure Is A Big Deal

H I SuttonContributo

Aerospace & Defense

I cover the changing world of underwater warfare.

Each design contains the hallmarks of a single person who designed it. These master boat builders are experts at their trade, crafting effective smuggling vessels out of basic materials.

The designs have to be cost effective, around $2 million a pop. But more importantly, they have to be practical to build in an artisan workshop hacked out of the jungle and miles from the nearest dirt track. Materials used are nearly always wooden frames with fiberglass coverings. The engines are most frequently the ubiquitous Yamaha Enduro 2-stroke outboards. These combine range, speed and reliability.

That two identical vessels were seized so close together suggests that intelligence from the first bust led to the second. We won’t know for sure, but that is one reason there is often a lag between the incident and it being reported. This gives law enforcement a window while the drug trafficking organization may be unaware that its sub has been caught.

Each family of designs can be tracked across multiple reported incidents. To aid with this there is a taxonomy which labels the designs systematically. This type is an LPV-OM-VSV-6 meaning that it is the 6th family of low-profile vessel with outboard motors, using a ‘very slender vessel’ style hull. The slender hull means that it is much narrower than regular boats, about 10 times longer than it is wide.

These are not the first LPV-OM-VSV-6s. Looking through my database, another was interdicted by the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Vigilant on Jan 9. And another, which appears to be an earlier iteration of the design, was stopped by the Coast Guard on September 20.

So next time you see that the Navy or Coast Guard have stopped a narco submarine, look closely at the design. Does it match one we’ve seen before? Will it match one you hear about in a few weeks time? This could be significant.