On Fri, 3 Dec 2004 14:16:52 +0100, "agh" wrote:

"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message
...
Supercavitation requires a large gas generating capacity
and humongous amount of thrust. To achieve this the
Shkval has a honking great solid fuel rocket that takes
up most of its interior space and has a range of less than
6 miles.

Yes, I see your point. You're absolutely right. It is quite impractical (or,
better, impossible) with today's technology, but it might prove to be an
interesting concept in future.

I dunno. ASW is a cat and mouse game. If the mouse wears a bell it
makes the cat's job easier. This has been true since the beginning
and I doubt it will ever change.

Another thing to consider is that which can be done on a small scale
(a torpedo weighing a ton) may not be possible on a large scale (a
submarine weighing thousands of tons). I suspect the ride through
this "bubble" is probably not very smooth and that will cause it's own
set of problems with submarine systems.

And if the amount of propellant to do this for a torpedo poses safety
risks for the sub, consider the tankage that would be required to
carry sufficient propellant for the whole sub. If solid propellant
were used it would be a "one time use" system, and that means you are
sacrificing other things (money, space, sensor capacity, etc.) to get
away once. With these other systems you might evade detection all
together or escape many times.

At the end of the day the weapon will probably give U.S. forces some
pause, but whether or not is it practical remains to be seen.

Bill Kambic