The Kilo is nothing compared to the current German and Swedish made subs ever heard of AIPS?But the bad guys will have Kilos so it is a good idea to train aginst them. The newer SSKs with AIPS that many western navies are using and also the russians are selling are perfect in what they call Green Water or platorial(i know that is misspelled) waters are very quiet nuclear powed ships are perfect in the deep ocean where there is a lot of water to hide in but not so great aside form the Sea Wolf and Virginia class in green waters.It is really a change in how most navies choose to fight. You can have a very small cheap navy be pretty nasty by simply playing an area denial war in shallow water where an AIPS SSK can hide very well that makes a big ship like a CV think twice about going into those waters.I belive the Kilo was an imporvement on the Tango class and they where they where perfect to control places like the Black Sea or the Med. in a "hot" Cold War era the Kilo is the son of the Tango which is the son of the Whiskey class all SSKs.What the US Navy must and is doing is adapt to this new very serious threat the new SSK.