Why doesn't the US have supercavitating torpedoes?

Why doesn't the US Navy have supercavitating torpedoes? The Russians have one, the shkval I/II , and actually the Iranians have one, a copied version called the hoot, or whale, even though the Russians claim it cannot be reversed engineered.

The Russian Navy is the primary user of the Shkval. A downgraded Shkval, the Shkval-E went to an international arms fairs in 1995, and both China, Iran and France have been known to have acquired limited numbers of Shkvals. I guess so did their sunburn missiles.

The Germans have one called Barrakuda.

Is any one surprised that US Navy doesn't have one by now?

The problem with supercavitating torpedoes (besides the design and manufacturing issues) is guidance. Traditional torpedoes use sonar for guidance (occasionally wire guidance is used but is hard to do for a rocket). The supercaviting bubble essentially blocks or mixes up the sound waves. This makes it difficult for the torpedo to see the target and therefore kill it. From what I've read of the Shkval it's more akin to a bullet than a torpedo.

reply to post by dragon72


Dragon hit it on the head.
In addition to having poor guidance - there's really no point. It can't really move from a straight trajectory. And while that sounds good in theory -- Launching an explosive hundreds of miles an hour at thousands of tons of steel and titanium lodged into the biggest puddle on Earth, things are never that simple in war.

reply to post by mabus325


Here is a interesting read

Among the greatest challenges for U.S. torpedo researchers is developing detection and homing technology that will enable the torpedo to distinguish an enemy sub from, say, a rock formation, says Ng. Also tricky is finding a way to control the gas bubble to permit those course changes. “When you turn, the bubble distorts because it is no longer symmetrical,” he says. “So you have to compensate for that by putting more bubble to one side.” This is done, Ng explains, by ejecting more gas toward the outside of the turn.

SOURCE


Hope that helps


SLAY

This is just my guess, but here goes:

We don't have supercavetating torpedos because they are fast but do not destroy at the speed of light. In fact they are easily detected by lasers which can sense the cavitation trail, and allow a light speed response to neutralize them. In short they are too slow a kill. Even slower than a rail gun projectile. Which I bet we have, in super cavitating form.

This is an area where the US is somewhat behind Russia. Supercavitating weapons are being developed, but nobody is pretending they are a priority in the current climate. Supercav torpedoes have their drawbacks, but they would be a useful addtion to the arsenal. Other weapons like the RAMICS anti-mine round also use supercavitaion (when they finish the damn thing) plus a few other systems.

DARPA are also looking at the 'Underwater Express,' a supercavitating 100 mph+ sub for delivering special forces -

www.defenseindustrydaily.com...

- but that's a long way down the line. Underwater Express will certainly be able to steer and sense ahead.

reply to post by dragon72


The Shkval-E actually has a guidance system.

The Shkval-E actually has a guidance system.

As does the even more advanced German Barracuda.