Supercavitating Torpedo

[tharun]

Here is a video of supercavitating torpedo under test...

 

[wuzetian]

Here is a video of supercavitating torpedo under test...

Looks like animation

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

 

[kapali_ninaad]

Nah, looks real. VA-111 Shkval has been in existence for a long time. This is the torpedo system the Americans and the Chinese are itching to get their hands on. Indian navy posses this system.

This is the same torpedo on which was carried by the unsinkable "Kursk". It is alleged that that high test peroxide (HTP) which forms the fuel for Shkval caused the explosion that sunk the Kursk ( which is a topic for discussion in itself). It was to protect this weapon system that the Russians refused the help from NATO/ non NATO countries to conduct a rescue operation that ended in all hands lost at sea.

 

[pmaitra]

Russia Has a Super Torpedo That Kills Submarines at 200 Miles Per Hour (And America Can't Match It)

While a lull in great power competition delayed the impact of this new technology, the so-called “supercavitating torpedo” may be about to take the world by storm.

One of the most innovative underwater weapons developed by the Soviet Union was the VA-111 Shkval (“Squall”) supercavitating torpedo.

Powered by a rocket engine, it was capable of astonishing speeds of up to 200 knots an hour. But in a world where physics ensured most ships and underwater weapons topped out at 50 knots, how did Russian engineers accomplish such a breakthrough in speed?

Traditionally, torpedoes use propellers or pumpjets for propulsion. Shkval, on the other hand, uses a rocket engine. That alone is enough to make it fast, but traveling through water creates major drag problems. The solution: get the water out of the path of the torpedo. But how, exactly does one get water of the path of an object in the middle of an ocean?

The solution: vaporize liquid water into a gas.

Shkval solves this problem by diverting hot rocket exhaust out of its nose, which turns the water in front of it into steam. As the torpedo moves forward, it continues vaporizing the water in front of it, creating a thin bubble of gas. Traveling through gas the torpedo encounters much less drag, allowing it to move at speeds of up 200 knots. This process is known as supercavitation.

Like any weapon, there are drawbacks. For one, the gas bubble and the rocket engine are very noisy.

Another drawback to a supercavitating torpedo is the inability to use traditional guidance systems. The gas bubble and rocket engine produce enough noise to deafen the torpedo’s built-in active and passive sonar guidance systems.

In the meantime Russian submarines are the only subs in the world equipped with supercavitating torpedoes, modernized versions of Shval armed with a conventional warhead.

In 2004, German defense contractor Diehl-BGT announced the Barracuda, a technology demonstrator torpedo meant to travel up to 194 knots. Barracuda was meant to be launched from submarines and surface vessels, and test models could travel straight and curved paths. However, the program apparently never translated into a marketable weapon.

 

[Krusty]

This is the torpedo system the Americans and the Chinese are itching to get their hands on. Indian navy posses this system.

Can anyone confirm the system that IN currently deploys is/isn't a monkey model? I am sure that The Russians would have an export spec'd model with reduced capabilities. Can any expert shed some light on this? We use a lot of Russian/USSR kit. I have read about monkey models sold to ME regimes by USSR. Is it the same cAse with india? I hate to think our t-90 fleet are made up of monkey models.