Lithium ion batteries are not an AIP. They are just better batteries. Maybe 3 or 4 times better but that's it. Then a submarine has to surface and recharge the batteries 3 or 4 times longer!
The small German Type 212 submarines can travel submerged for 3 weeks thanks to an AIP. The first submarine of this type was commissioned in 2005. Range is slightly less than Collins-class with a crew of just 27 and a dived displacement of 1,8000 t (about half of Collins-class).
The Lithium Ion Batteries (LIB) are hyped because Japan can not provide an AIP but the other contenders. Nobody talks about the possibility that the other two can also provide LIBs. There is an US aircraft with Japanese LIBs. Why not a French submarine with Japanese LIBs? - Maybe the Chinese LIBs are already better.
For a simple reason the second batch of Type 212 submarine commissioned in 2015 did not receive LIBs or any other type of batteries with higher capacity: a diesel engine with much more power would have been necessary to use the advantage of more battery capacity.
Finally, Japan not only has no AIP to offer.
Japan also has no Diesel engines to offer!
Kawasaki only produces license build MAN-Diesel.
So what can Japan really offer except displacement?
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