You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Europe
German translator in China espionage scandal
2004-12-15
A woman translator, 43, tried to sell to China the manuals for electronics that control all the weapons aboard Germany's crack new Type 212A submarines, a court heard on Wednesday. She was caught when a Canadian counter-espionage agent posed as a Chinese buyer and met her in a bar. Because the official secrets will be presented at the trial, the public was excluded from the courtroom in the western city of Koblenz after charges were read. Michaela T., who was born in Germany but has been a naturalised US citizen since 1983, has been in custody since she was arrested while visiting her German parents in September. Her full name has been withheld in line with German journalistic ethics guidelines. The trial is expected to hear how the German manufacturers of the sophisticated weaponry, hoping for export sales, saw no risk in hiring a freelance translator living in Canada to work up an English version of the operating instructions.
Somebody go hit them aside the head with a cluebat, please?
T. has been indicted for attempted treason in October 2003. Prosecutors say she telephoned the Chinese embassy in Ottawa, offering to sell the documents, but the Canadian authorities were aware of the approach.
Got the embassies phones bugged, do you?
The undercover agent, pretending to be Chinese, made contact and met her on two separate occasions.
Exactly how does a Canadian secret agent pretend to be Chinese? Does he tape back the corners of his eyes like those old "Charlie Chan" movies?
Senior prosecutor Wolf-Dieter Dietrich told the state superior court she had been willing to compromise Germany's external security for the sake of money. He told the court she had been short of money and had got into an argument with her German client over fees. After the call to the embassy, the undercover man met her in a bar in Canada and she agreed to sell him the manuals for CAD 105,000 (EUR 64,000), the indictment said.
Bad girl, go directly to jail.
The torpedo-armed 212A, designed by shipyard HDW, is the world's first series submarine with a fuel-cell propulsion system, said to have all the benefits of nuclear power with none of the disadvantages. It enables the vessel to operate submerged for several weeks at a time, with no noise or heat from exhaust fumes that could give it away to sub-hunters.
Plus no reactor cooling pumps, wonder if this is the type the Israelies are going to purchase?
Posted by:Steve

#4  I bet it won't go over 20 kt submerged for more than 24 hours. That submerged for a mounth deal is for station keeping speed, say 3 kts. If you see 'em without the diesel, then you may have something. Still a dang good submarine tho.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-12-15 5:44:42 PM  

#3  Phil, they are using the fuel-cell to charge the batteries, details on the 212 here:The outstanding feature of this new type of submarine is its air-independent propulsion system using a silent hydrogen/oxygen fuel cell system which not only makes the submarine more difficult to detect, but also increases the time it can stay submerged. The class 212 submarine is the first in the world to be equipped with this rovolutionary propulsion system. Its performance has already been successfully tested on a German Navy submarine.

Its hybrid diesel-electric and air-independent fuel-cell propulsion system will meet the vital requirement for low detectability. A noiseless propeller will be driven by a low-noise, high-performance, permanent-magnet motor. The reactants for the fuel cell (hydrogen and oxygen) will be stored in the after part of the boat between the pressure hull and an outer, free-flooding hull. The low-detection-probability requirement will be met also by reducing the boat's acoustic, magnetic, radar, and visual signatures and by minimizing the sonar target strength (against active detection) and sonar target level (against passive detection). The pressure hull, made of high-strength nonmagnetic steel, is optimized for hydrodynamic properties and maneuverability.
A submarine that uses fuel cells rather than a diesel engine to recharge its batteries produces much less sound while doing so, and consequently the effective detection range of many of the current passive acoustic sonobuoys is reduced.
The drive system is appropriate for speed and continuous operations without snorkel times. The gas cell makes possible submerged operations of up to one month, without the necessity once to snorkels. The boat form is very hydrodynamically clean, which suggests a high speed (> 20kn). Using the X-helm for the first time for the German navy also improves the agility of the new submarine. New stainless and a-magnetic steel for the pressure hull could make over approximately 300m for submerged depths possible.
Posted by: Steve   2004-12-15 4:02:37 PM  

#2  fuel-cell propulsion system, said to have all the benefits of nuclear power with none of the disadvantages A laughable claim. Fuel cells are just better batteries.
Posted by: phil_b   2004-12-15 3:25:53 PM  

#1  Article: It enables the vessel to operate submerged for several weeks at a time, with no noise or heat from exhaust fumes that could give it away to sub-hunters.

Nuclear subs can stay submerged until they need to come up for food.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2004-12-15 1:38:42 PM  

00:00