Navy seeks interest in developing air-launched anti-submarine torpedoes

The Navy is looking for contractors to build new torpedoes that would glide through the air before diving into the water to destroy enemy submarines.

The Silent Anvil Air-Launched Torpedo (SAA-LT) would be an underwater sound-guided munition, according to the Request for Information (RFI) posted to the government contracting website Sam.gov by Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) on behalf of the Precision Strike Weapons Program Management Office. The deadline for responses is Sept. 29.

Sound-guided munitions pick up the distinctive underwater noises of engines or propellers to navigate to targets. The Navy is developing new delivery methods for airborne torpedoes that allow them to be launched further from friendly aircraft and move faster through air than if they were only in water. The strategy also keeps the friendly aircraft or drone further from possible retaliation.

The Navy said it is seeking a new torpedo that could be launched from an aircraft or aerial drone that would glide for a distance before dropping into the water.

The Navy is also seeking contractor interest in adapting currently used MK 54 torpedoes by adding additional glide devices and honing and communications systems, much as standard “dumb bombs” dropped from aircraft can be adapted to Joint Direct Attack Munition “smart bombs” with additions to the munitions casing.

Both versions would be “standoff” weapons that could be released at a distance from enemy submarines and then glide toward the target area and enter the water.

“The government is seeking industry input on the maximum standoff glide range achievable,” the Navy RFI states.

If a version is accepted by the Navy, a prototype must be ready within 18 months of an award.

The torpedo should be a “compact, lightweight form factor similar to the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB)“ so that the widest variety of U.S. aircraft and drones could be used to launch it.

Launch speeds are subsonic at altitudes up to 60,000 feet or as low as 10 feet above water.

The new torpedo should be able to launch from a BRU-61/A bomb rack. Weight should be less than 268 pounds, with a length of less than 70 inches and diameter of less than 7.5 inches.