IRAN test fired a 220 MPH underwater missle -CNN

[upi402]

I thought those doo-hikeys were called torpedos. Any skimmers or bubbleheads know the difference here? Or is it just more hard core investigative journalism?

[SoCalDem]

1. OMG.. they shot Flipper out of a water cannon?

:)

[saltpoint]

2. I'm thinking if they can't catch their limit on 6-pound test line and

a hulapopper or two, they ain't shit as fishermen.

[Marr]

3. A torpedo??! Clearly we must INVADE!!!

[upi402]

13. LOL -my thought exactly. WHIP IT UP!

War paint, and duct tape baby. Get out your debit cards!
:nuke:

[MadisonProgressive]

4. Torpedos have a propeller - missles are rockets

[upi402]

14. Underwater rocketry. I need a Mother Jones subscription n/t

[MadisonProgressive]

16. Mine just ran out - If I had time to read it I'd definately renew.

[upi402]

21. I subscribed to Extra! just to support it.

And read what I could. I have short bursts of free time, and I like to play here when I do. I need a vent relief, I guess, and not more edification of views. Extra! is great because it timed proNAFTA vs. antiNAFTA air time. Guess which side had far more-

[Canuckistanian]

5. I heard it had a 5000 Mile range

And was capable of being fired within 45 minutes. WITH a nuclear warhead AND some Sarin gas.

[wtmusic]

7. It does--they can target your bathtub

Keep your eye on the drain. You're not safe anymore.

[Canuckistanian]

11. Nah, I have a stealth bathtub - it's invisible to radar

The guy who sold it to me said it was bulletproof, too. Damned expensive, but worth every penny.

Freedom isn't free - but the interest payments are killing me....

[BR_Parkway]

18. Obviously we must strike them 1st so the next mushroom cloud you

see isn't ..... hey Condi, how'd that line go for the last war?

[wtmusic]

6. Something sounds, er, FISHY about 220mph underwater

:silly:

[blueinindiana]

8. Russia tested such a device about a decade ago.,,,

I am an ex Navy dealing specificially in anti submarine warfare...if the report is true i suspect russia may have aided...but overall its a big yawner.

it was designed to have a nuclear warhead...the speed was needed to get the device as far away as possible from the ship that fired it.

[benburch]

12. Well, underwater missiles have been speculated upon for years.

If such a system actually works, they could make anti-torpedo countermeasures useless as these cannot deploy in time and as the bearing of the target cannot change much in the time of "flight".

But they absolutely have limited range, and they absolutely have a payload limited by the very small cross-section they need to have for hydrodynamic reasons.

Still, a hypothetical penetrator that can punch a 6" hole into the pressure hull of a submarine would at least remove that vessel from the fight while it tends to damage control.

[upi402]

24. UNDERWATER MISSLE. The VA-111 Shkval (Squall) supercavitating torpedo

Launched from a Russian Navy Oscar II-class submarine. 200MPH

[ContraBass Black]

25. In that case, whether or not it carries a nuclear payload

is irrelevant.

The message is plain: if the US invades Iran, US aircraft carriers won't be impervious.

[upi402]

26. True, if they have a launch platform. But Rummy will probably sell one.

:grr:

[ContraBass Black]

27. Anybody can build/buy a submarine.

It only takes one hit to hand the US its most devastating single loss since Pearl Harbor.

[benburch]

29. The Iranians HAVE built small submarines.

In addition to the ones they purchased from the Soviets, they have domestic small diesel-electric submarines that, until now, lacked an effective weapon.

[ContraBass Black]

32. There you have it.

Some people still join the Navy because that's the "safe" branch. Not so in the modern world.

Stealth wouldn't even be a critical issue. For the Iranians, loss of a submarine and crew would be well worth taking out a US capital ship.

[upi402]

36. Yep, I know a guy who built one.

Not just anybody could pull that off, though. But talented folks with some funds...

[BrotherBuzz]

40. Graham Hawkes?

[benburch]

28. No launch platform needed.

At least, not a sub. Such a thing could be an excellent defense weapon in fixed installations at the straits, or in "mines" where a single weapon plus sensors to trigger it's launch are scattered in waters deep enough for a submerged submarine to operate in.

[BrotherBuzz]

39. They can be launched from a patrol boat...or say, a dhow

Russia has openly offered the Shkval for sale at international arms shows in recent years. Though few in the West have witnessed the Russian Shkval missile in action, several expert sources have seen a marketing video distributed to potential buyers. As one described the scene: "First of all, you only see the Shkval from the rear; you don't get to view the front of the torpedo where all the interesting stuff is--the cavitator, the ventilation ports, and so forth. The scene opens with the Shkval being launched off a patrol boat . After it drops below the surface there's an extended pause, when without warning, there's a bright flash in the water and you sense some commotion underneath the waves. After a short time, a triangular trail of bubbles starts to appear at the surface and moves off into the distance at a good pace. Meanwhile, not much else happens until all of a sudden, you see a little explosion way off on the horizon, followed by the delayed report. It's pretty amazing to see how far the thing has gone in such a short time." 

http://diodon349.com/Kursk-Memorial/storm_over_the_squall.htm

[Gabi Hayes]

9. have we started bombing yet?

hope so

[HysteryDiagnosis]

10. Oh great.... now shrub will be wanting to

drain the oceans.... and I so do love a good filet of cod now and then.

[upi402]

15. I bet it has a "Made In America" boilerplate on it n/t

[DearAbby]

17. Underwater missile sounds more threatening than Iran tested a torpedo

:shrug:

[WillyT]

19. I'm Assuming It Doesn't Stay Under Water Very Long, LOL !!!

Cause maintaining the 220mph would be a bit tough that way.

:evilgrin:

[upi402]

22. Freepers will refuse to go fishing now

It might be a good time to froth up the water a bit.
:toast:

[JohnyCanuck]

30. Here's the scoop on the Rusky version.

According to this report, range is 7,500 yards or around 4 miles.

VA-111 Shkval underwater rocket

In 1995 it was revealed that Russia had developed an exceptionally high-speed unguided underwater missile which has no equivalent in the West. Code-named the Shkval (Squall), the new weapon travels at a velocity that would give a targeted vessel very little chance to perform evasive action. The missile has been characterized as a "revenge" weapon, which would be fired along the bearing of an incoming enemy torpedo. The Shkval may be considered a follow-on to the Russian BGT class of evasion torpedoes, which are fired in the direction of an incoming torpedo to try to force an attacking to evade (and hopefully snap the torpedo's guidance wires). The weapon was deployed in the early 1990s, and had been in service for years when the fact of its existence was disclosed.

Development begain in the 1960s, when the Research Institute NII-24 (Chief Designer Mikhail Merkulov) involved in the artillery ammunition research was instructed to launch the development of underwater high-speed missile to fight nuclear-powered submarines. On 14 May 1969, pursuant to a government resolution, NII-24 and GSKB-47 merged into the Research Institute of Applied Hydromechanics (NII PGM), which formed the basis of the present day 'Region' Scientific Production Association. Advances in the development of jet engines and fuel technologies, as well as outstanding results in the research of body motion under cavitation made it possible to design a unique missile with a dived speed much greater than that of conventional torpedoes.

When the suction on the low-pressure side of the propeller blade dips below ambient pressure the propeller blade cavitates -- a vacuum cavity forms. There is water vapor in the cavity, and the pressure is not a true vacuum, but equal to the vapor pressure of the water. High-speed propellers are often designed to operate in a fully-cavitating (supercavitating) mode. A high speed supercavitating projectile, while moving in the forward direction, rotates inside the cavity. This rotation leads to a series of impacts between the projectile tail and the cavity wall. The impacts affect the trajectory as well as the stability of motion of the projectile. The present paper discusses the in-flight dynamics of such a projectile. Despite the impacts with the cavity wall, the projectile nearly follows a straight line path. The frequency of the impacts between the projectile tail and cavity boundary increases initially, reaches a maximum, and then decreases gradually. The frequency of impacts decreases with the projectile's moment of inertia.

Apparently fired from standard 533mm torpedo tubes, Shkval has a range of about 7,500 yards. The weapon clears the tube at fifty knots, upon which its rocket fires, propelling the missile through the water at 360 kph , three or four times as fast as conventional torpedoes. The solid-rocket propelled "torpedo" achieves high speeds by producing a high-pressure stream of bubbles from its nose and skin, which coats the torpedo in a thin layer of gas and forms a local "envelope" of supercavitating bubbles. Carrying a tactical nuclear warhead initiated by a timer, it would destroy the hostile submarine and the torpedo it fired. The Shkval high-speed underwater missile is guided by an auto-pilot rather than by a homing head as on most torpedoes.

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/missile/row/shkval.htm

I remember reading some time ago that the US Navy or one of the US defense contractors asked Russia if they could buy some of these from them and the response was, "No frickin' way."

[upi402]

37. Competition for energy states alliances heats up

[benburch]

31. No, the idea is that it stays underwater.

It probably has sixty seconds fuel... But can traverse about 4 nm in that interval.

[bananas]

33. 4 nanometers?

[VTMechEngr]

34. nautical miles

[benburch]

35. Nauctical Miles. nt

[ContraBass Black]

20. I think that means airborne weapon launched from underwater.

Like our submarine based missiles.

[benburch]

38. No, I don't think so.

a 200 mph regular missile would be a total failure...

[suffragette]

23. Is Condi going to switch from "mushroom cloud" to waterspout now?

Fear the coming waterspout.