Todays Torpedoes

[tycho102]

The "future submarine" will be a mobile reconnaissance platform. What they (I mean the US in particular, but other countries as well) will have to do is develop a UAV system.

You read that right. Unmanned aerial vehicle.

Seals and all that stuff, too. But in addition to a towed array, the subs are going to have to carry a retractable antenna buoy. Something where they can sit at 300m, and have an antenna group up top.

The UAV will be in it's own little eggshell, and will have to be launcable sub-surface. Just open the airlock and let the eggshell drive to the surface. Once there, it'll open up, release/launch the UAV, then close back up -- prepared for an emergency dive. The antenna buoy will be "raised", and the smaller the UAV, the more secure the sub's survival.

The eggshell will have to have some kind of cargo-arm to retreive the UAV, stow it inside, and dive back down to the boat. The eggshell will be a mini-submersible, and as a consequence, an expendable submersible. But it will be able to give the operators (Seals and nucs) quite a bit more information than would otherwise be possible.

Can't launch it out the tubes, as that makes too much noise. It's gotta be quiet and electric (be it battery or fuel-cell), and recharged by the sub's power plant. The UAV is another matter, but I could see a JATO and electric/hydrogen-combustion engine. The H-C engine would have the benefit of being "refueled" at sea with an absolute minimum amount of supporting volume, as opposed to holding tanks for JP-5 or it's ilk.



"Future" subs will still have to be prepared for a large assault, but their routine operation will be active reconnaissance and small-scale interdiction.