WASHINGTON \u2014 Manufacturers are pitching new products for neutralizing torpedoes, the most dogged enemy of surface ships, as those weapons are becoming smart enough to tip the balance of power in naval battles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Judging by the offerings at the Euronaval trade show in Paris last month, there is a trend among developers to offer kinetic, or hard-kill, interceptors capable of overcoming the seeker trickery that large, modern torpedoes now boast to sniff out targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The concept of blowing up torpedoes as they approach follows a trend of decoys becoming increasingly ineffective against torpedoes capable of turning around and reengaging a ship after missing it on the first pass \u2014 potentially for hours, said Johannes Peters, a naval analyst at Kiel University in Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The global proliferation of torpedo-carrying submarines makes the challenge all the more grave, he said. \u201cSubmarines are the weapon of choice to challenge a superior surface navy,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Germany\u2019s Atlas Elektronik, which is part of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, exhibited the state of play of its SeaSpider anti-torpedo torpedo at Euronaval. The firm aims to begin production of the surface vessel version in 2025, with a submarine-borne variant following a few years later, a company official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In practice, the SeaSpider would launch within seconds of detecting an incoming torpedo, and then destroy the weapon at short range, said the official. The surface variant could fit aboard large surface vessels like frigates, as well as smaller vessels like corvettes and offshore patrol vessels, and be installed in dedicated fixed launchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also at Euronaval, Israel\u2019s DSIT Solutions presented a new counter-torpedo suite for submarines. It combines the company\u2019s hull-mounted sonar sensor and parent company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems\u2019 anti-torpedo defense system. The setup involves a decoy named Torbuster, launched at a safe distance from the ship, designed to \u201cseduce\u201d the incoming torpedo with acoustic signals, only to blow up when its near, Rafael explains on its website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Hanan Marom, a Rafael vice president of marketing and business development, the company has an \u201cinternal project\u201d to make Torbuster work from aboard surface ships. The variant must be smaller, lighter and deployable by way of existing rocket launchers on vessels, Marom said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the technology may not work against more advanced seekers programmed to find and follow a ship\u2019s wake. Simply put, those wake-homing torpedoes are feared because they are impossible to seduce through song. The weapons engage their targets by aligning themselves with the bubbles of a ship\u2019s propulsion system \u2014 it may take several passes to identify the right ship \u2014 and approach from behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTorpedoes are no longer the simple impact-fuze weapons we know from classic movies like \u2018Das Boot,\u2019 \u201d Peters said. Modern torpedoes are typically connected by long wires to submarine operators, enabling eccentric maneuvers, he explained. Some can also travel stealthily on electric propulsion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rather than directly hitting targets, they are programmed to explode below a ship, launching the vessel upward and causing it to break apart up on the fall, according to Peters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In naval warfare, once a torpedo is fired, \u201cyou normally don\u2019t have much a of a chance,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, companies like Atlas, DSIT and Rafael claim they can change the odds with their packages of sensors and interceptors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to a ThyssenKrupp official at Euronaval, more than a half dozen navies are interested in the new technology when it comes to market, including the United States and the U.K.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The German Navy was interested, but an acquisition fell through for \u201cpolitical\u201d reasons, according to Peters. It remains to be seen if the service\u2019s new ships, like the F126 frigate, will feature the SeaSpider, particularly as Germans have a new threat perception of Russia following Moscow\u2019s assault on Ukraine, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Atlas previously advertised the SeaSpider\u2019s utility in shallow waters, like those of the Baltic Sea \u2014 Germany\u2019s maritime connection with Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For now, SeaSpider may have more luck on the other side of the Atlantic. Atlas and ThyssenKrupp in 2019 struck an industry partnership with rocket engine-maker Magellan Aerospace, based in Canada, to further develop the technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A ThyssenKrupp spokesman told Defense News the company is keeping an eye on the Canadian Surface Combatant<\/a> program \u2014 estimated to cost<\/a> $62 billion to design and buy 15 of the envisioned multirole ships \u2014 as a prospective user. But no sale had been made to that end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to American contractor Lockheed Martin, the program nears a key design review milestone at the end of the year. The Royal Canadian Navy wants those vessels to start replacing older ships ships in the early 2030s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seth J. Frantzman in Jerusalem and Vivienne Machi in Paris contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Companies promise new technology to take out the stealthy ship killers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":112065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":7,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[7,29],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3298],"class_list":["post-31692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-battlefield-tech","category-home"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"FARDFABHLVFO5ETZZEFLRHPBME","arc_canonical_url":"\/battlefield-tech\/2022\/11\/03\/are-torpedo-killing-torpedoes-ready-for-prime-time\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n