Á Stanislav ProshkinÁÁÁ Valery MarininÁ| | | ||
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Owing to basic performance characteristics, the Russian torpedoes are on a par with their foreign counterparts and even surpass them in terms of reliability and ease of operation.Á Á |
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 Medvedka small-size antisubmarine missile system |
ÁÁÁHeat and power engineering, involving strong oxidants (oxygen, hydrogen
peroxide), was widely used. In 1956 the 53-56 antiship aimed gyrating oxygen
torpedo, provided with a radically new optical exploder was designed. The
torpedo with a 400-kg explosive charge could develop a speed of 40 knots.
ÁÁÁThe 53-57 first heat turbine-driven torpedo, which used hydrogen peroxide as oxidant, was adopted in 1957. |
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| ÁÁÁAugmenting the power unit and creating a unique active
sonic homing system promoted the 53-61 new antiship torpedo adopted for
service in 1961. ÁÁÁIn 1965, the 53-65 wakehoming gas-turbine chemical torpedo entered service with the Navy. The torpedo had long kept the speed record. ÁÁÁThe late 1960s witnessed an oxygen version of the 53-65K torpedo which was extensively employed by the Soviet Navy. The torpedo was exported to many countries. ÁÁÁIn the early 1970s, the first 650 mm antiship torpedoes, 65-73 and 65-76, featuring increased range and speed, entered service to outfit multipurpose nuclear-powered submarines. |
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During the first postwar years, the 45-36AM and 45-56NT 45 mm air-launched heat torpedoes for low-level bombing and 45-36VM and 45-54VT for high-level bombing also received a large development effort. ÁÁÁSimultaneously in 1953, the RAT-52 450mm rocket-propelled antiship torpedo, which developed a speed of up to 70 knots, was adopted for service with maritime aviation. The design innovations allowed the torpedo to memorize the attack heading in dropping. |
 TEST-71 torpedo |
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| ÁÁ The main foreign fleets started to employ antiship torpedoes
during WWII, which was caused by an intensive surface ships campaign of
the warring parties in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean waters. At the same
time the first aimed and homing electric-propelled torpedoes were created
in Germany, while the U.S. Navy started to employ turbine-propelled torpedoes,
and in the mid-1940s - chemical torpedoes. ÁÁÁMany types of antiship torpedoes made during WWII were operational until the mid-1980s. In 1960-1970 the heavy single-purpose antiship and antisubmarine torpedoes were replaced by multipurpose torpedoes capable of destroying surface ships and submarines. This was dictated by the limited ammunition load of submarines and a variety of missions to be accomplished. ÁÁÁAntisubmarine and multipurpose torpedoes. The underwater threat aggravated by the appearance of missile submarines gave an impetus to the development of domestic and foreign antisubmarine weapons, with torpedoes becoming the main one. ÁÁÁThe first passive homing antisubmarine torpedo, SET-53, was adopted by our Navy in 1958. The torpedo was subsequently modified and designated the SET-53M. With a high speed, its range was almost doubled owing to the use of a silver-zinc battery. |
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 UMGT-1ME torpedo |
ÁÁÁIn 1956 the SET-65 new generation of active/passive homing torpedo
system was put into service and in the 1960-1970s the first telecontrolled
torpedoes, TEST-68 and TEST-71, appeared. ÁÁÁÁOwing to basic characteristics, the Soviet torpedoes were on a par with the American ones. However, some innovations, telecontrol, in particular, were incorporated in the Mk-37 model 1 and Mk-45 American torpedoes long before, in 1961. |
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| ÁÁÁIn the early 1960s domestic antisubmarine torpedoes
launched from 400mm tubes were created to outfit the first generation nuclear
submarines and small submarine chasers. The SET-40 featuring active/passive
homing and active acoustic noncontact exploder was the first small-sized
antisubmarine torpedo. At the same time efforts were underway to develop
air-launched antisubmarine torpedoes. Thus, the AT-1 450mm torpedo was
created in 1962 and the AT-2 533mm torpedo with improved characteristics,
in 1965. Later only small air-launched torpedoes (VTT-1 and others) were
developed. ÁÁÁIn 1960-1980, electric-propelled antisubmarine torpedoes and antiship torpedoes powered mostly by heat engines were simultaneously created in the USSR. In the 1970s the development of torpedoes powered by heat engines resulted in the creation of multipurpose torpedoes capable of destroying both surface and underwater targets. ÁÁÁThe first domestic multipurpose torpedo designed for self-defense of submarines was the SET-72 400 mm torpedo adopted for use in 1972. Later on the maritime aviation received the UMGT-1 400 mm antisubmarine torpedo whose characteristics were on a par with the best Western counterparts. ÁÁÁIn 1980, the Navy was outfitted with the first USET-80 533mm multipurpose electric-propelled torpedo which surpassed, in terms of the performance characteristics, all NATO electric-propelled torpedoes of this class. These same years witnessed a light 324mm antisubmarine torpedo designated Kolibri. ÁÁÁIntensive development of the Soviet nuclear-powered submarine fleet in 1960-1970 compelled the U.S. Navy to spend huge assets to make a new qualitative leap in the development of torpedo weapons. As a result, in the early 1970s the U.S. nuclear-powered submarines received the first modification of a new-generation Mk-48 torpedo. The torpedo employed a heat engine operating on unitary liquid fuel and developing power thrice as much as that of any other American torpedo. Launched from the American 533mm torpedo tube it became an effective multipurpose torpedo and excluded the need for the development of special purpose antiship torpedoes. Now the modified Mk-48 torpedoes, the last modification being the Mk-48 ADSAR, constitute the backbone of the U.S. Navy torpedo arsenal. |
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| ÁÁÁThe surface ships and antisubmarine aviation
of the U.S. Navy are currently equipped with the small Mk-46 model 5 and
Mk-50 torpedoes capable of fighting modern nuclear submarines. ÁÁÁThe harsh economic problems in Russia and the end of the Cold War inevitably affected the development efforts in this sector. Nevertheless, a number of torpedo versions that meet the best world standards are to be adopted for service and export very soon. |
 Latush torpedo |
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| ÁÁÁAntisubmarine missiles and torpedo missiles.
In Russia several organizations are involved in the development of these
weapons: the Novator and Raduga Engineering Design Bureaus, Moscow-based
Heat Engineering Institute, Region Research and Production Association
and Gidropribor Central Research Institute. The torpedoes designed by the
Gidropribor CRI were used as head of torpedo missiles. As earlier in the
USA, this type of weapon passed the evolution of simpler antisubmarine
missiles whose forebody was a special purpose warhead. ÁÁÁThe first domestic unguided ballistic missiles 82R of the Vikhr RPK-1 system with a range of up to 24 km were employed by the Project 1123 antisubmarine cruiser and later, by heavy aircraft cruisers of Projects 1143 and 11433 (1968). ÁÁÁTo arm submarines, an antisubmarine missile system, the Vyuga RPK-2, similar to the U.S. Subroc system, was created in 1969. Its 533mm solid-propellant ballistic missile 81R also featured a range of to 40 km. ÁÁÁIn the early 1970s large submarine chasers and escort ships received the first Soviet antisubmarine systems, RPK-3, RPK-4 equipped with the 85R cruise missile whose warhead was the AT-2UM 533mm homing torpedo. The advent of the 85RU multipurpose missile of the RPK-5 system with the UMGT-1 400mm torpedo as a warhead in 1984 provided for the destruction of both underwater and surface targets at a range of up to 50 km. ÁÁÁIn the early 1980s the RPK-6 antisubmarine system started to go into service with submarine and surface ships. In 1984 the RPK-7 antisubmarine missile system, which surpassed considerably the RPK-6 in terms of the performance characteristics was adopted for service with nuclear submarines. ÁÁÁIn addition to torpedo missiles and torpedoes, the national submarines are outfitted with unique high-speed antisubmarine missiles (designed in the 1970s) developing a speed of about 200 knots. ÁÁÁUntil recently, only nuclear submarines and large surface ships were outfitted with antisubmarine missiles. In the mid-1990s an antisubmarine system designated the Medvedka was created for small submarine chasers. ÁÁÁThe aviation is also outfitted with the APR-1, APR-2 and other solid-propellant antisubmarine missiles created in the 1960-1980s. ÁÁÁThe American surface ships armed with the ASROC antisubmarine missile system employ a depth charge or a small torpedo as warheads. Modern ships are outfitted with versatile vertical underdeck launchers to launch antiship, air defense and antisubmarine missiles. ÁÁÁThe aforementioned weapon development trends and enumeration of types of antisubmarine and antiship weapons testify to the strong emphasis placed in our country on the creation of torpedoes and torpedo missiles, the most effective weapons in underwater warfare. ÁÁÁOwing to basic performance characteristics, the Russian torpedoes are on a par with their foreign counterparts and even surpass them in terms of reliability and ease of operation. ÁÁÁThe subsequent development of naval forces of the main maritime nations predetermines further development of the national underwater fleet. ÁÁÁDuring the past few decades the development trends of torpedo weapons have been common to the fleets of all countries. These include: ÁÁÁ- developing new homing and guidance systems based on digital computing, use of on-board computers with a large memory capacity and great speed of response which ensures the enhanced reliability and jamming immunity of the systems, decoy discrimination, optimization of target selection, optimized three-dimensional homing (guidance) trajectory: ÁÁÁ- increasing the range of homing systems owing to lower operating frequency of the system sensors, abating the self-noise affecting the equipment operation, raising the emission power and using composite signals; ÁÁÁ- increasing the range and speed by improving the characteristics of the power unit and propellants, reducing the hydrodynamic drag owing to improved configuration or use of polymeric materials injected in the boundary layer of streamlined shell, setting up forced cavitation conditions; ÁÁÁ- increasing the running depth owing to the use of new materials for torpedo cases; ÁÁÁ- reducing noisiness owing to the use of up-to-date technologies and propulsion devices; ÁÁÁ- enhancing the effectiveness of warheads owing to the use of updating explosive charges and increasing the precision of torpedoes and guiding them to the most vulnerable points of targets, integrating the operation of the homing, guidance systems and noncontact exploder; ÁÁÁ- updating the telecontrol systems owing to the use of fiber optics and two-way communication allowing the attacking submarine to receive information on the torpedo trajectory, state of on-board systems, target maneuvering, with all information being displayed in real time on a video terminal interfaced with the computer. ÁÁÁThe fleets of many countries are outfitted with underwater weapons developed in Russia. The national research and production base offers considerable scope for replenishment of the Navy arsenal and for arms export. Á  |
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Copyright Ê Military Parade JSC, 1997.
Design
by X-Project
he modern torpedo is one
of the most effective weapons in submarine warfare. Torpedoes constitute
the primary armament for multipurpose submarines, self-defense weapons
for undersea missile ships and basic antisubmarine armament for surface
ships and naval aircraft. Most postwar torpedoes were developed by the
St. Petersburg Gidropribor Central Research Institute headed by A.M. Borushko,
R.V. Isakov, G.P. Korsakov and others.