Just a thought...sorry for Necro-Posting but it seems to me Antishipping warheads from 500 to
1,000 lb really dont necessarily sinks ships outright.....but a Mk-48 warhead (650 lb PBXN-103
equivalent to 1,200 lb TNT) under the keel almost guarantees a sink/kill everytime...with the
more robust [1] P-8A Poseidon coming on line wondering if a better Antishipping Aerial solution
could be designed economically...Against a warship, a fast HARM type missile could be launched to
kill its Air defence Radar, then a [2] HAAWC glide torpedo for the "Coup-de-grace"
A Mk-48 weighs 3,695 lbs with 650 lb warhead -19 ft long and -21" Diameter to 23 Nmiles 60Knots
Mk-50 weighs 800 lbs with 100 lb warhead -10 ft long -13" Diameter to 9 Nmiles 55Knots
Mk-54 weighs 610 lbs with 100 lb warhead -10 ft long -13" Diameter to 7 Nmiles 45Knots
HAAWC Long-shot wings to 50 Nmiles
How about a new 1,500+lb Medium Torpedo by two "cheap" 518 lb Mk-46s (same propulsion as
Mk-54-minus warheads= 400 lbs each) strapped side by side with HAAWC, somehow pushing a Mk-48 650
lb warhead and under keel fuse...?
Or a new 19" 1,500 - 2,000 lb pound Medium Torpedo with HAAWC and Mk-48 650 lb warhead and
under keel fuse?
any thoughts.......
(P-8A Poseidon has 11 weapon hard points- five in the bomb bay, four under the wings and two
under the fuselage, and can carry over 22,000 pounds of weapons (2,000 lbs per pylon?) all the
hard points have digital weapon interfaces)
[2](HAAWC/Long-shot wings....reduces stress on the P-3/P-8A Poseidon aircraft by allowing it to
stay at altitude to launch torpedoes. This will assist in reducing fatigue on those aircraft
currently in U.S. Navy, a high-altitude launch, where the HAAWC-equipped torpedo will glide to
its normal launch altitude close to the surface, and then jettison the LongShot wings prior to
water entry then the torpedo follows its normal operational procedures as it would in a launch
from a P-3/P-8A Poseidon from low altitude, Torpedoes still have to be released from low
altitude, typically 100 feet or less above the waves)