MILDEN is Turkey's first indigenously designed submarine — the ~2,700-tonne Atılay class, in block construction at Gölcük since January 2025 with a methanol-reformer AIP and Turkish weapons. Delivery is promised for the early 2030s; nothing is yet in the water.
The Columbia class is the US Navy's next ballistic-missile submarine — 12 boats replacing 14 Ohios, with electric drive, an X-stern and a life-of-ship reactor. The $126B+ program is the Navy's top priority, running ~a year late with lead-boat delivery now targeted for 2028.
Poland's $4.8 billion order for three Saab A26 submarines is NATO's largest Baltic undersea buy in decades, aimed straight at Russia's Kaliningrad fleet.
The submarine that "disappears" — Germany's Type 212/214 pioneered near-silent hydrogen fuel-cell propulsion, letting a non-nuclear boat stay submerged for weeks and slip past sonar so well it has "sunk" carriers in NATO war games. The world's benchmark export AIP submarine.
Taiwan's home-built deterrent — the Hai Kun ("Narwhal") is the island's first indigenous submarine, built with quiet foreign help to give Taipei a stealthy weapon that could threaten any Chinese invasion fleet. After decades unable to buy submarines abroad, Taiwan built its own.
The conventional submarine that carries ballistic missiles — South Korea's KSS-III is a large, indigenous AIP boat with a vertical launch system for submarine-launched ballistic missiles, a strike capability almost unheard of outside nuclear-powered navies. Later boats add lithium-ion power.
Spain's AIP submarine — a large Navantia boat with a bioethanol fuel-cell air-independent power plant and a Tomahawk-class land-attack option. Famous as much for its troubles: an early design came out too heavy to surface, forcing a costly redesign before the first boat sailed in 2023.
Israel's Dolphin-class submarines — German-built diesel-electric attack boats with air-independent propulsion, a reported nuclear second-strike role, and a history wrapped in operational secrecy that only occasionally lifts.
China's primary conventional attack submarine with indigenous Stirling air-independent propulsion — a quiet, multi-week-endurance boat built for regional sea denial, and the platform behind Beijing's push into the submarine export market.
China's first credible sea-based nuclear deterrent — a nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarine carrying up to 12 JL-2 or JL-3 SLBMs, fielding six boats for near-continuous patrols.
China's second-generation nuclear attack submarine, the Type 093 Shang family, from initial torpedo-armed boats to the VLS-equipped Type 093B, forms the backbone of the PLAN's undersea force.
Russia's troubled Project 677 diesel-electric attack submarine — a mono-hull design intended to replace the Improved Kilo with Kalibr capability and planned air-independent propulsion, but plagued by decades of delays and an absent AIP system.
Russia's diesel-electric Kalibr-capable attack submarine — the "Black Hole" of the Black Sea, a widely exported SSK and the platform behind the only documented submarine-launched cruise-missile strikes in combat.
Russia's latest nuclear ballistic-missile submarine, the cornerstone of its sea-based nuclear deterrent, carrying 16 Bulava SLBMs and featuring a pump-jet propulsor for enhanced stealth.
Russia's most modern nuclear attack submarine — a multirole SSGN carrying Kalibr, Oniks, and Zircon cruise missiles in vertical silos, and the quietest Russian submarine design to date, assessed as comparable to US Seawolf/Virginia generation.
A Franco-Spanish diesel-electric attack submarine family with optional MESMA air-independent propulsion, exported to Chile, Malaysia, India, and Brazil, and the backbone of India's Kalvari and Brazil's Riachuelo classes.
Germany's pioneering fuel-cell AIP attack submarine — the ultra-quiet Type 212A, now evolving into the larger Type 212CD for North Atlantic/Arctic operations, operated by Germany, Italy and (on order) Norway.
The United States Navy’s sea-based strategic deterrent — 14 nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarines carry
France's next-generation nuclear attack submarine — the Barracuda-class Suffren boats carry the MdCN cruise missile, F21 torpedoes, and a special-forces lock-out, replacing the Rubis-class SSNs one-for-one.
The Royal Navy’s stealthy nuclear-powered attack submarine — armed with Spearfish torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles, sheathed in 39,000 anechoic tiles and driven by a pump-jet for silent patrols world-wide.
The US Navy’s premier nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine, blending advanced quieting, a large Tomahawk strike payload, and special-operations support; the platform at the center of the AUKUS submarine pathway.
Satellite imagery has caught a previously unreported Chinese submarine with no conning tower, the newest entry in a build rate Western navies cannot match.