T1B

Uncle Fester wrote:On Sunday, Iran announced it had tested a different torpedo, the new high-speed "Hoot," which means "whale." It moves at up to 223 mph, and Iran said it was too fast for any enemy ship to elude.

"There are no known countermeasures

mvscal wrote:

Uncle Fester wrote:223 mph? Underwater? I call bullshite.

Second.

They're getting scared.

Sudden Sam wrote:

SHKUAL! is the sound the Kursk made as it exploded.

Uncle Fester wrote:Where's Mike the Lab Rat or somebody else with a science background? There must a limit as to how fast an object can travel underwater.

I used to barefoot waterski and because of friction, the water used to feel like it was burning your feet at about 43 mph.

I didn't know Iran even had a navy.

ElvisMonster wrote:

Uncle Fester wrote:On Sunday, Iran announced it had tested a different torpedo, the new high-speed "Hoot," which means "whale." It moves at up to 223 mph, and Iran said it was too fast for any enemy ship to elude.

What's the range on one of those things?

Sincerely,

smackaholic wrote:I am fairly certain that we have a pretty damn good idea where every last POS Iranian sub is in the gulf. And if they start making threatening gestures with said boats. I'm guessing that we will blast one of them clear out of the water just to let them know how badly they suck at this game.

Uncle Fester wrote:I don't understand how it's possible for a physical object to go that fast underwater

Submarines peaked in power and relevance during the Cold War; there has since been a shift in focus to aircraft-based combat, and subs have become budget-cut victims. But subs are still prized for their ability to sneak about global waters undetected and to defend surface ships from attack. Many U.S. subs are being converted from missile launchers into delivery vehicles for special operations troops.

But the supercavitating torpedo—a rocket-propelled weapon that speeds through the water enveloped in a nearly frictionless air bubble—may render obsolete the old submarine strategy of sly maneuvering and silent running to evade the enemy. The superfast torpedo could be outfitted with conventional explosive warheads, nuclear tips or nothing at all—a 5,000-pound, 230-mph missile could do enough damage on its own. The Russians invented the concept during the Cold War, and their version of this underwater killer—dubbed the Shkval (“Squall”)—has recently been made available on the international weapons market; the United States, of course, wants a new, improved version of the original.

The hard part about building a rocket-propelled torpedo isn’t so much the propulsion as clearing a path through the ocean. Water creates speed-sapping drag; the best way to overcome that drag is to create a bubble that envelops the torpedo—a supercavity. A gas ejected uniformly and with enough force through a cavitator in the nose of the torpedo will provide such a bubble, permitting speeds of more than 200 mph and a range of up to 5 miles (traditional torpedoes have slightly longer ranges, but lumber at only 30 to 40 mph). Though submerged, the torpedo remains essentially dry, with a frictionless surface. “That sounds easy, but doing it is extremely difficult, especially if you’re trying to steer,” says Kam Ng, program manager for the torpedo at the Office of Naval Research, which has been developing the weapon since 1997. “If your torpedo moves in a straight line, you just aim and shoot,” says Ng. “That capability already exists with Shkval. But the U.S. vehicle will be more capable—it will turn, identify objects, and home in on the target.” (Improvements to the torpedo to make it steerable likely froze when the Soviet Union collapsed, says GlobalSecurity.org’s Pike.)

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.

Naval officials say the high-speed torpedo will enable submarines to attack enemy subs and surface ships without giving them time to respond. The U.S. military has tested a prototype, but combat-ready versions are not expected for at least 15 years.

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology ... drcrd.html

Also disturbing is the fact that the Iranians, by answering some of the ads in the back of Popular Science, could learn to build their own folding kayaks and become locksmiths in their spare time.

Uncle Fester wrote:Where's Mike the Lab Rat or somebody else with a science background? There must a limit as to how fast an object can travel underwater.

Uncle Fester wrote:I don't understand how it's possible for a physical object to go that fast underwater, especially in seawater, which is more dense than freshwater.

Cicero wrote:They have the most warped sense of reality over there. They think that just b/c their citizens are too stupid to realize that bullshit they feed them, that the rest of the world will believe anything they say.

Uncle Fester wrote:I don't understand

smackaholic wrote:even though that ruskkie torpedo is flying through a layer of bubbles, it created, that doesn't change the fact that it's still gotta push a lot of water out of the way in a hurry. and it is extremely noisy. so, i guess it might be somewhat effective against a large surface ship, but, there is no way in hell it would make an effective ASW (anti sub warfare) weapon.

mvscal wrote:

silvurna wrote: it's a noisy bastard.

Which is totally irrelevant when it is moving over 200 miles an hour and tipped with a nuclear warhead which was the Soviet concept.

smackaholic wrote:First off, a sonobuoy doesn't detect magnetic fields, a MAD boom does. It works pretty well with aircraft because you can hang the boom below the craft where it's own magnetic field doesn't bother it. This don't work too good with surface/sub crafts.

Secondly, everybody knows Natalee is in the dunes. Don't you get any news.

smackaholic wrote:First off, a sonobuoy doesn't detect magnetic fields, a MAD boom does. It works pretty well with aircraft because you can hang the boom below the craft where it's own magnetic field doesn't bother it. This don't work too good with surface/sub crafts.

Secondly, everybody knows Natalee is in the dunes. Don't you get any news.