{"id":69400,"date":"2024-08-09T17:49:30","date_gmt":"2024-08-09T17:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2024\/08\/09\/ship-killing-guided-bomb-put-to-test-as-air-force-sinks-cargo-vessel\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:08:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:08:19","slug":"ship-killing-guided-bomb-put-to-test-as-air-force-sinks-cargo-vessel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2024\/08\/09\/ship-killing-guided-bomb-put-to-test-as-air-force-sinks-cargo-vessel\/","title":{"rendered":"Ship-killing guided bomb put to test as Air Force sinks cargo vessel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Air Force in July tested a new ship-killing guided bomb<\/a> to demonstrate the service\u2019s growing ability to sink enemy vessels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A B-2 Spirit bomber released the weapon, which the Air Force Research Laboratory calls QUICKSINK, against an empty cargo vessel in the Gulf of Mexico, AFRL said in a Thursday release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Col. Matthew Caspers, head of AFRL\u2019s munitions directorate at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, said in a statement that the technology will ensure the U.S. can defend its interests, keep seas open, and \u201cseize the initiative over large maritime areas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cQUICKSINK is an answer to an urgent need to neutralize maritime threats to freedom around the world,\u201d Caspers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force is developing QUICKSINK to bolster its anti-ship capabilities, which would be crucial in a potential conflict with China or another major adversary. Defense leaders have repeatedly said the U.S. military\u2019s top challenge is China, which views the island nation of Taiwan as a breakaway province with which it must reunify, possibly through a swift invasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The decommissioned cargo vessel the Monarch Countess slips beneath the waters of the Gulf of Mexico after being struck by a QUICKSINK weapon. (Air Force)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A war against China would likely involve fierce naval battles across the Pacific, and the Air Force hopes QUICKSINK would provide another weapon in its arsenal to counter the Chinese navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The QUICKSINK program will allow the Air Force to modify current or future weapons to hit targets at sea that are either stationary or moving. AFRL said in 2021, as it began testing the concept, that it wants the weapons to home in on specific points on the target vessel, including at its top, at the waterline or just below the water\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AFRL did not specify which weapon was used in July\u2019s test to sink the cargo vessel, called the Monarch Countess. A previous test in 2022 used a modified GPS-guided GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAM, to strike a target vessel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n