NAVAL

INDUSTRY
Heavy weight torpedoes
are the primary weapon ^
of all submarines and provide
the punch to some corvettes
and fast patrol boats.
(Photo: STN ATLAS)

The market of heavyweight torpedoes is now gaining a new momentum. 1982 Falkand War. A British WW2 vintage
The main reason is the new boosting phase of submarine building and/or straight-runner Mk-8 claimed the defenceless
Argentine cruiser "General Belgrano", while
upgrading throughout the naval world. Only very few navies are now deploy- three-out-of-three Tigerfish failed to operate. On
ing heavyweight torpedoes onboard their new surface vessels and this makes the other side, as many as eight German-made
the torpedo market even more dependant on the building of new subma- $ST-4s fired by the Argentine missed their tar-
rines or on the upgrading of existing boats. gets for malfunctions.
ASuW warfare requires mostly passive acous-
I
tic homing, both for the surface mirror-effect and
for me availability of machinery-generated noise,
The change of strategic posture originated Diesel submarines operating in shallow or wake-homing. The latter principle offers many
some ten years ago represented a very serious waters require a different approach. They are attractive features: first of all it can be realised by
threat to the continuance of new projects of heav- slow targets, nearly zero-dopplcr, often quietly
yweight torpedoes. What is dramatically hovering against a comparable noisy back-
changed, when compared with the world we ground of coastal surf and merchant traffic.
were used to know, is the operational scenario Blue-deep-waters submarines were moving
and the consequent requirements. in the middle of wide spaces. Bottom detection,
The western Navies considered ASW as the instead, spells a difficult job for any sonar oper-
main role for their torpedoes, and their most typ- ator as well as for the homing heads of the tor-
ical target was, needless to say, represented by pedoes. Near-surface engagements face simi-
a nuclear-powered Soviet boat. This approach lar troubles: the reflection of the sea-air inter-
was of course consistent with the operational face acts as a mirror complicating the use of
requirements to be satisfied. active sonar.
The nuclear-powered submarines are not any- A partial shifting away from the antisubma-
more perceived as the primary target/threat. rine warfare job for the Western submarines
Though the Russian and Chinese (and Indian in impl ies, in turn, more focusing towards anti-sur-
a next future) nuclear boats could still play hav- face warfare (ASuW) operations. ^w?<*p«(s- ^ j P B E
oc in case ofa direct confrontation, there are con- During the last twenty years heavyweight tor-
tingencies more likely to be considered. pedoes were used in combat only during the

48 NAVAL FORCES 3/2000

 Massimo Annati
is Captain in the Italian Navy
and Quality Assurance Repre-
sentative for the North of Italy,
at the Naval System Bureau of
Milano.

using either an upward-looking sonar, or even the

acoustic fuse as a homing sensor (as done by the
latest Italian A-184s) to detect the "popping" bub-
bles released by the ship's wake, furthermore
there is no acoustic countermeasure working
s
against wake homing. Another important feature
of the acoustic fuse is the unique capability to deal KEY-AREAS
with non-magnetic targets (i.e. stainless steel, tita- OF IMPROVEMENTS
nium or composite fibreglass-made hulls). The two key-areas of improvement are, of There are two main categories: electrical and
Anti-surface vessel operations need also a course, related to the propulsion and to the hom- thermal. The latter delivers more power densi-
long-range weapon, capable also of sustained ing head. ty, being the volume available an important con-
high-speed. The selection of the propulsion system defines straint for any torpedo design, and therefore was
Another feature of this changing-world is rep- the most important parameters : the range vs. usually preferred for fast-running shots, though
resented by the increasing likely presence of speed envelope as well as the noise (both radi- with paying some deficiency in terms of noise.
anti-torpedo countermeasures, deployed both by ated and self-induced). New kind of electrical batteries are now
submarines and surface vessels. offering a sensitive increase in
--4 terms of power density.
HEAVYWEIGHT VERSUS Al-AgO batteries, already
ANTI-SHIP MISSILES deployed on the Mu-QO Franco-
Anti-ship torpedoes have recently got to fight Italian lightweight torpedo, pro-
also against submarine-launched anti-ship mis- vide power densities comparable
siles for their space onboard (as well as for their with the thermal solution.
budget-sharing). Missiles, in general, though of During mid '90s the tri-natioii-
roughly comparable price, are considered more al (France, Germany. Italy) Joint
"glamorous", feature longer range (providing one Feasibility Project (JFP) led to
enjoys the availability of long-range targeting) evaluate the different types of pro-
and lesser time-to-target, but, besides giving pulsion available. The two thermal
away the submarine position, they are usually solutions (swash-plate and turbine)
less lethal than torpedoes and easier to counter. were both discarded as exceeding-
The association of all the above factors forced ly noisy, despite the use of" quiet
new requirements for the torpedo-industry. pump-jet propulsors. Counter-
Some, such as better wire guidance, lower rotating propellers (orcontraprops,
noise levels, better resistance to countermeas- just easier) are a more typical solu-
ures, are exploited both for ASW and ASuW, tion. Today skewed profiles and
others, like wake-homing option, extended different number of blades allow
range, higher speed, demand further efforts of drastic reduction of the emitted
development. noise while improving top speed
and propulsion efficiency.
Electrically-propelled toipedoes
SPEARFISH developed by Marconi can be procured also with less per-
Underwater Systems is being delivered to forming (and less expensive) bat-
the Royal Navy to replace the aged TIGERFISH.
The delivery is planned to be completed 2004. teries for training purposes, being
(Photo: Marconi) re-usable for a number of launch-
The Tp62 is under es with comparably scarce main-
production by Bofors for the tenance, where, instead the thermal torpedoes
Royal Swedish Navy and are known to be almost "one-shot" weapons with
export to other navies. complex and expensive post-firing maintenance
(Photo: FFV Ordnance) to be performed only within the producer's
workshop.
A quiet-running toipedo. however, faces
much higher probabilities to approach a target
without being detected, and hence avoiding ear-
ly evasive manoeuvres, counter-measures and
eventually retaliation. Furthermore, lack of noise
implies also longer acquisition ranges for the
torpedo's homing head itself.
Speed and noise influence the design of the
homing guidance section. Sonar conformal
arrays can be exploited up to no more than
40knots. For anything faster the electronical-

NAVAL FORCES 3/2000 49

NAVAL
INDUSTRY

ly-steered sonar plate array is the only way to

operate without being totally deafened by the
turbulence.
Sophisticated signal processing with digital
electronics, allowing near-real time FFT and
very narrow band analysis, plays an important
role in discriminating targets against counter-
measures, environmental/background noise
and reverberation/reflection, yet just very few
torpedoes today can enjoy such new technolo-
gies. All this is strongly required by the new
scenario faced by present submarine warfare
in littoral waters.
Extensive sea trials
and exercise firings
were executed to
provide the combat
ready DM 2 A3
with new high tech
sensor outfit and
integrate the torpe-
do to the submarine
fire control system.
(Photo: STN
ATLAS)

Rear Section
DM 2 A3 mod.
(Propeller, Fins)

With DM 2 A4 STN ATLAS is aiming

An important support is provided by wire- for substantial improvements in term al Navy attack submarines ("Astute"-elass)
guidance option. This allows the launching plat- of speed and range. This torpedo will be armed with a weapon selected from
will be the effector of the next German
form to exchange data with the weapon sensor, submarine generation U 212. the open market.
thus improving the target discrimination and (Photo: STN ATLAS) Spearfish is certainly the fastest torpedo on
resistance to countermeasures. In case, wire- the market (being credited of an amazing 60-
guided torpedoes have been used even as extend- 65knots and having shown a surface top speed
ed-range offboard sensor platform for the par- of 70knots during the trials in a Scottish loch),
ent boat, anticipating the possible future opera- but it is also considered a "straight nail", i.e.
tional deployment of Unmanned Underwater tics and, most of all, of keeping the interfaces almost deaf at its top speed, having to
Vehicles (UUVs). However longer ranges and with the submarine. approach the target at no more than 28knots.
more complex scenarios demand new solutions However there is a definite limit where a It was designed so fast having in mind the
to be developed. design born in early eighties, though a very good threat of the 45knots Soviet "Alfa"-class sub-
Fibre-optic is replacing copper-wire, allow- design at its origin, can be stretched. marines. The last "Alfa" was paid off some
ing longer rolls to be stowed in the ever-cramped Today just very few producers arc offering years ago, but the Spearfish top-speed stays
spaces available and, most of all, a larger flow real "new" designs, versus a number (a limited still there to remember us the "ancient times".
of data to be cross-exchanged with the boat's number, however) of solutions generated by To face such a challenging requirement, the
combat system. improving previous models. British adopted a very special solution, with
Most of the cases, all these changes were a gas turbine discarded during the US Mk48
approached with additional improvements over TECHNOLOGY AND design competition (for its excessive noise),
existing solutions, i.e. following an "evolution- MARKET SURVEY and enriching the standard Otto-fuel with
ary" path, instead than a major breakthrough. Spearfish Hydrogen Ammonium Perchlorate (HAP)
The reasons for this approach is certainly of The development contract of Alenia Mar- propellant. In this way the original 500hp of
economic nature. The end of cold war deter- coni Spearfish, the edge-line torpedo of the the Mk48 propulsion plant was raised to over
mined a drastic reduction of war-shots to be pro- British Royal Navy submarines, was award- lOOOhp. though paying a price both in terms
cured. In the United Slates series production of ed back in 1981, yet the series delivery began of noise and of maximum operational depth.
the Mk50 lightweight torpedo was axed down only in 1994 and is expected to run until 2004. Onboard the Royal Navy's submarines,
to 1065 units from the planned 8000 units ! The U.K. MOD, however, stated that no new Spearfish still shares its role with the previous
Additionally an "evolutionary" path usually HWT design would have been nationally much slower Tigerfisb Mod2 (35knots), which
is considered capable of easing training, logis- financed in the future and that the next Roy- was sold also to Brazil and Turkey.

50 NAVAL FORCES 3/2000

 NAVAL
INDUSTRY

Mk48 coming for this powerful weapon. The US Navy would have been selected out of the market in
The most spread torpedo is now the US Mk48. made very clear that no new warshot would have due time.
Its Mk48 ADCAP version (1400 warshots in ser- been procured (the last new-torpedo delivery- While the German STN ATLAS Elektronik
vice with the US Navy) was just recently author- dating back to 1995) until the improvements are DM2A4 is completing its development, its pre-
ised also for possible export to selected coun- implemented in all the inventory and the litto- decessor, the DM2A3 is still being actively mar-
tries. Previously the US' best Allies received ral-problems finally overcome. keted. Besides by the German Navy in 1995 (U-
only the earlier Mk48 mod4 (Australia, Cana- 206-class), it was also selected by Norway
da, the Netherlands) featuring just about half Tp62 ("Ula"-class), Turkey (Type 209-class) and
range. ADCAP began its production in 1988 and Bofors Underwater System of Sweden is the Israel ("Dolphin"-class), sometimes under its
when compared to its previous versions, fcanires third producer of modern thermal heavy weight export name of "Seahake". DM2A3 is also being
more fuel and a new active sonar. The speed- torpedoes. The Tp62 is now being produced for offered to South Africa and Denmark, in com-
range envelope lies in between 50km-40knots both the Royal Swedish Navy and (under its petition with others. German torpedoes have
and 38km-55knots (with a 18-km wire-length). export name of Tp-2000) for the Brazilian always enjoyed a strong market advantage,
It is credited with the highest operational depth improved "Tupi"-class submarines. Tp62 uses being, of course, the weapons initially offered
ever reached: 800m, a clear heritage of the con- the very same propulsor of the Spearfish torpe- by the submarine and fast patrolboat builders,
cern caused by the Soviet "Alfa"-class subma- do (turbine and pump-jet), but a different pro- thanks to the strong reputation gained by the
i rines advent. pellant: High Test Peroxide (HTP) plus kero- German yards. This torpedo uses TOSO, the
The propulsion originally selected to achieve sene. The result is a top speed of some 50kt at homing head designed by the Italian WHITE-
this limit, while maintaining superior speed and 18km range, to be traded against a maximum HEAD ALENIA Sistemi Subacquei (WASS) in
noise performances, was the otto-fuel swash- mage of 50 km, with lesser speed. It is the fore- mid '80s, with an horizontal conformal array. It
plate piston engine coupled with a pump-jet. It runner for the Danish Viking submarine project, trades a 34knots maximum speed (at 13km
requires positive discharge an therefore is not but the Australians discarded it, for being its range) with a top range of 28km (at 23knots),
suitable for swim-out launch techniques. HTP propellant non-environmentally safe. The while the search speed is selectable to 18 or
After the early cancellation of the specific guidance exploits a single copper-wire (30km 23knots, thanks to a three-step 80kW motor.
QUIET ADCAP project, there are a number of long) with some obvious limitations in terms of The DM2A4 represent a further development
improvement programmes underway, the so- data flow. The homing head was derived from of this family, with significant improvements in
called MODs, aimed to reduce the comparably the 43X2 lightweight torpedo, and therefore is the propulsion section, featuring over 45knols.
high noise level of the propulsion (TPU, Torpe- quite modern, yet of small diameter and with It is propelled by a new AgO-Zn battery with
do Propulsion Upgrade, by Northrop Grum- lesser transducers. stepless permanent magnet motor of some
275kW. In case the French Al-AgO
battery technology was made avail-
able to STN, then a speed in excess
of 50knots would be foreseen.
The DM2A4 fast running motor
requires a large reduction-inverter
gear (derived from the EURO-
f ORP Mu-90 design), in order to
drive the two contraprops with 5+9
skewed blades made of fibreglass.
The TOSO homing head will
remain the same of its predecessor,
while a new fibre-optic wire
replaced the former copper coils.
The total length of this warshot
increased to 6.6m, and this makes it
WASS A-184 is the heavyweight torpedo
DM 2 A3 and DM 2 A4 unfitted for possible upgrading of the many U-
in service with the Italian Navy. It is a well
proven design and has been upgraded recently Back in 1994 France. Germany and Italy 209 submarines previously sold almost every-
to comprise state of the art modern technique. worked together to merge their national pro- where, while a special export version (with a
With the Black Shark WHITEHEAD ALENIA grammes into one European heavyweight tor- shorter, less performing, battery section) is being
is developing a new generation torpedo. pedo, under the so-called JFP. In 1996 howev- developed. DM2 A4 is the weapon of election for
(Photo: WHITEHEAD ALENIA) the U-212 submarines, and it is being considered
er Germany left the team to pursue its own solu-
tion, the DM2A4, considered a very time-sen- also for the Australian upgrade programme and,
sitive item for the U-212 submarine project. of course, for the Greek U-214s.
man), and to improve guidance and control (by During the two following years Italy and
Raytheon) via new processors and a new receiv- France co-operated until the France decided that A-184-Mod3 and Black Shark
er. New software made its appearance in the the requirements for its Sous-Marine d'Attaque The WASS' A-184 Mod3 is an upgrade of the
present ADCAP Block-Ill update. The final aim Future (then "Barracuda"-class), expected to previous Mods 0 and 1 versions in service with
is to reach the Block-IV update level, in order begin the sea trials in 2008, were not so defined the Italian Navy (Mod2 being the export ver-
to improve the performances against quiet die- yet to justify such an effort. In a second time sion), in order to ensure a full operability until
f* sel submarines in littoral waters, the major short- France announced that a heavyweight torpedo around 2020, to the refitted "Sauro"-class sub-

NAVAL FORCES 3/2000 51

 NAVAL
INDUSTRY

marines. A new spool-wire increased the wire- main weapon for the Italian U-212s, it is also a
length up to 19km from the previous 14. A wake- forerunner for the Australian. Portuguese, Span-
homing capability was also added, as well as ish and Greek programmes.
improved resistance to countermeasures. The France arrested any further development of
composite carbon-fibre propellers feature 7+6 its F-17 Mod2B, and the future "Barracuda"-''
skewed blades, improving propulsion efficien- class attack submarine will be armed with tor-
cy up to 40knots speed and reducing the noise. pedoes selected from the open market. Howev-
In order to ease the interfaces with the er the toipedo is still being offered for export as
submarines' combat systems, WASS introduc- a follow-on of the previous F-17P and F-17
es also a modular Torpedo Board Interface Modi-2. Its latest version features 28km range
(TBI), allowing any submarine to manage two with an approach speed of 28knots and attack
different types of torpedo at one time. The U- speed of40knots (wire length 18km), propelled
2I2-A will be fitted with the TBI, making pos- by a 32kWh AgO-Zn battery. A wake-homing
sible to manage any combination of two types possibility was also considered to augment the
among a mix torpedo load of A-184 Mod3. rather obsolescent acoustic head.
Black Shark and DM2A4. The A-184 Mod3 is
now also being considered for a South-Asia sub- DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN
marine programme. A N D RUSSIA
Black Shark is a totally new breed. The design To complete the overview it appears to bt
began in 1997. Previously known as "A-184 worthwhile to consider the torpedo develop-
Advanced", it was so renamed to highlight the ments in Japan and Russia. The Japanese sub-
new line of development and represents a real marines use Type 89 torpedoes, believed to be
breakthrough. It features a totally new homing a close replica of the US-made Mk48 mod-4.
head, ASTRA (Advanced System Transmission Though there is very scarce knowledge about it.
& Receiving Architecture), with a multibeam as usual for Japanese weapon systems, howev-
planar array and digital pulse compression. It is er its released performances match quite close-
multi-frequency and able to operate in active (FM ly the American ones.
and CW) and passive mode, with independent The Russian torpedoes were always and only
signal processing of each frequency in each lobe. associated to Russian-made submarines. The
This is definitely a major improvement and ena- present dual-purpose model (ASW and ASV) is
bles also true 3-D homing. Usually torpedo-head the electric-driven TEST-96. now replacing the
w p* ^. * sonars exploit the 25-35kHz high-frequency former TEST-71 ME. They are capable of wake-
03 fl x i band, while ASTRA provides a very high num- homing, active and passive homing with an oper-
ber of transducers starting from the medium fre- ational envelope of 40knots and 15km or
quency (some 10Hz) upwards, his can generate 25knots and 20km. The wire-guided version is
a 7km acquisition range, versus a mere 2km usu- USET-80 (previously UTEST-71) with a
ally granted by high-frequency sonar. Fibre-optic 45knots and 14km range (they can be launched
wire guidance (60km!) and communication link by just two tubes of the improved "Kilo"-elass
is another feature. A strap-down platform (3 laser- submarines). Worth to mention the size of these
gyros plus 3 accelerometers) provides further pre- weapons, 8m long and therefore much larger
cise positioning. In order to ensure such sophis- than their Western counterparts. The anti-ship
U O
ticated performances, significantly silent propul- version is, instead, the thermal 53-65, with a
sion is required. Black Shark uses two 11+9 45knots and 19km range. Its propellant is made
skewed contraprops in composite carbon fibre by oxygen and kerosene, and the torpedo
and a 300kW slow rotating brushlcss motor with exploits wake-homing guidance, with quite a
steplcss speed variation. The solution doesn't heavy warhead of some 300kg.
require a reduction gear, yet Black Shark is There were frequent rumours of severe unreli-
expected to have a top speed in excess of 50knots. ability for the Russian torpedoes in service with
This is obtained also thanks to the new technolo- the Indian "Kilos", until recently a report indicat-
gy Al-AgO battery (by the French SAFT) already ed that the boats were considered non-operation-
CJ —< deployed into the Mu-90 lightweight, fitted with al for lack of adequate weapons.
an electrolyte management system.
A training-exercise version is also being CONCLUSION
developed with an AgO-Zn battery, capable of Reflecting the developments in heavyweight
ten runs, while a future Lithium-ion battery will torpedo techniques it can be concluded that there
allow a 50-runs life. However, the standard Al- are few new torpedoes (fully deserving the
AgO warshot battery is available also for train- "new" term) entering on the arena, and facing
ing, if required. an increasing demand from the operators in sub-
° ^ S "^ Black Shark scored already its very first suc-
cess, having being selected by Chile for its new
marines and surface vessels. The market will
determine which of the toipedoes will succeed.
I—I ^J o o "Scorpene"-class boats. Besides of being the ITJAFO^

52 NAVAL FORCES3/2000