By Laurent BARTHELEMY
Gliding stealthily through the ocean depths, attack submarines quietly shadow their quarry, ready to strike with torpedoes or missiles.
Somewhat neglected after the Cold War, they are now making a serious comeback around the world.
Militaries in Asia, Russia and the United States are aggressively stepping up the development, acquisition and deployment of the undersea craft.
That's because they have realized that even the best surface vessels and warplanes are vulnerable to anti-ship or anti-aircraft missiles, says Bryan Clark of Washington's Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, an independent think-tank.
"So they are shifting to more undersea capabilities to do some of the offensive operations that they want to carry out," he said.
Nowhere is the trend more marked than in Asia, prompted by China's rapidly expanding military might.
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