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Originally Posted by Andrej
I had a conversation with a friend the other day, and he insisted that torpedo in modern US subs still have wires on them, so they can be hand guided if necessary.
Then it came to me why would someone want to have the unnecessary medium of like 5000 yards of cable when signals (waves) travel uderwater very quickly and you can still guide the torpedo with radiowaves or lasers.
So here's my question:
Do modern (or new if there are still any made) US subs equip with wire guided torpedos, and what's the reason for this?
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The answer is they are indeed still wire-guided, even the Mk48 ADCAPs. However, they all have internal pursuit logic in case the wire is cut, whether by maneuver, shock, or on purpose (by closing outer doors).
Wire guiding works because it is simple, it is reliable, and it's practically foolproof and jamproof.
You have to keep in mind that torpedoes often work in very noisy environments, like after underwater detonations, in company of noisemakers and decoys, etc. The home-sub could be maneuvering and so on. Laser guidance requires a stable platform or emitters all over the ship which ain't reliable. Sound guidance don't work in noisy environments and can be jammed/blocked by explosions.
Quite a few modern anti-tank missiles are still wire-guided. And there's talk that instead of a normal wire, next-gen missiles will use optical fiber.