In article ,
Paul J. Adam wrote:
In message , phil hunt
writes
For above-water use, you have to get close, because they're unguided.

I don't see any reason why one couldn't be fitted with a guiadance
system.

Torpedo guidance needs the torpedo to listen for either the noise of the
enemy, or the sonar echoes from its own transmission. Shkval achieves
its speed by 'supercavitating', meaning it's sheathed in a layer of
bubbles; and, again, it's really noisy. Both factors mean it can't use a
guidance system other than basic gyrostabilisation.

Could, I guess, use swim-out and look-around, then once it's got a fix
point-and-squirt at the target, hoping it hasn't moved much. Of course,
all that achieves with submarine launch is swapping a big, sensitive sonar
for a piddling little one and an added delay, but I guess it could work
for a surface launch from a quiet platform - but if I were driving the
platform I'd want ro be leaving as soon as possible after launch.

I dare say the thing could have a role as a coast-defence weapon in
something like the Fjords - a sort of successor to heavy shore-based
torpedo tubes.


--
Andy Breen ~ Interplanetary Scintillation Research Group
http://users.aber.ac.uk/azb/
"Time has stopped, says the Black Lion clock
and eternity has begun" (Dylan Thomas)