Reply #77: Jane's disagrees with you.... [View All]

[MercutioATC]

"As there are no known countermeasures to such a weapon," states David Miller's April 1995 article "Supercavitation: Going to War in a Bubble," in Jane's Intelligence Review, "its deployment could have a significant effect on future maritime operations, both surface and subsurface, and could put Western naval forces at a considerable disadvantage."

...and, as Scientific American reports "Supercavitating weapons work in the U.S. is being directed by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in Arlington, Va. In general, the ONR's efforts are aimed at developing two classes of supercavitating technologies: projectiles and torpedoes."

...they go on to state "The other supercavitating technology of interest to the ONR is a torpedo with a maximum velocity of about 200 knots. Substantial technical and system challenges stand in the way of the desired torpedo in the areas of launching, hydrodynamics, acoustics, guidance and control, and propulsion, to name a few, according to ONR program manager Kam Ng. NUWC Newport is doing the applied research and some of the basic research work as well. The effort is supported by the Applied Research Laboratory at Pennsylvania State University (ARL/Penn State), the University of Florida, Anteon Corporation and Lockheed Martin."

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=000CA29B-0EA6-1C70-84A9809EC588EF21&page=1

...and, in 1995, the ONR awarded a contract to Anteon Corporation for "Advanced Development of a High-Speed Supercavitating Undersea Weapon".

http://www.fbodaily.com/archive/2005/03-March/03-Mar-2005/FBO-00760713.htm


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