In reading a bit about the American accused by Russia of spying last week, I found an interesting tidbit.

He's being accused of trying to obtain info on a new Russian "underwater missile" capable of going 225 mph+ and which is used for sub-to-sub combat.

Anyone know anything about this thing? Sounds fearsome. I can't imagine something going that fast underwater....must be a hybrid flying cruise missile/torpedo or something, no?

Anyone?



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John Sponauer
Senior Editor
SimHQ.com
jsponauer@SimHQ.com

225mph? Wow! That's pretty fast. Must bear in mind though that the Russians have gained a reputation for 'misinformation' regarding the capabilities of their equipment. i.e. they like playing tricks on the West by telling us that they have hardware that is supposedly vastly superior to what we have. They then sit back and laugh at the panic stricken NATO Generals and Adimirals.

IIRC the fastest torpedo is the British Spearfish which has a classified top speed, but it is known to be greater than 70 kts.

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Nick

That would be the Shkval high-speed torpedo. It is indeed reputed to have a 225+ mph speed. It obviously has very short range, and little else is known about it. I believe it is carried by the Akula-class.

As for how it works, it has something to do with "super-cavitation." To avoid sounding like an idiot, I will not attempt to explain this, but rather leave it to someone who knows what they're talking about.

>As for how it works, it has something to do with "super-cavitation."


Sounds like that could hurt.

I'll have to look that missile and technology up on the 'Net. Thanks!



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John Sponauer
Senior Editor
SimHQ.com
jsponauer@SimHQ.com