Towhich should become a cheap analogue of torpedoesThe US Air Force Research Laboratory has demonstrated the ability of air-dropped bombs to sink ships with the effectiveness of a submarine-launched torpedo at a lower cost. Discuss
It is for this reason that a heavy torpedo launched from a submarine is chosen as an anti-ship weapon. Ideally, the “tidbit” is a point directly under the keel, albeit a short distance from the hull. When the torpedo reaches this point, a magnetic, timed, or remotely controlled detonator activates the charge and generates a shock wave that pierces the back of the ship, sending it to the bottom.
The downside is that that submarines are not always available on demand, and the cost of each launch is $1.2 million. Alternatively, AFRL and the Elgin Air Force Base Integrated Testing Team organized a joint Quicksink Technology Demonstration (JCTD) that was successful to test the potentially more cost-effective an efficient and flexible alternative based on the JDAM system.
Simply put, JDAM is a kit that turns unmanaged “stupid” gravity bomb into a guided precision munition. It consists of a collar that goes around the main body of the bomb and a targeting tail section using GPS and an inertial guidance system.