Northrop and General Dynamics work on Supercavitating Submarine

Originally posted on my blog gdibb.blogspot.com... ... check it out

DARPA have awarded contracts to Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics to develop a high speed underwater craft using supercavitating technology. For more information on supercavitation check en.wikipedia.org... but the basics are that a craft or object can be specially shaped so that, at high enough speeds, it vapourises the water it is travelling through to create a bubble of gas around itself. Drag underwater is about 1000 times that in air and supercavitation gets around this drag by allowing a craft to effectively fly underwater through a bubble of gas which travels at the same speed as the craft.



DARPA are hoping to create an underwater supercavitating craft (as far as I can see the first of its kind) to transport valuable cargo or small amounts of troops at very high speeds. Apparently the craft may share similarities with a Russian supercavitating torpedo, the Shkval, but with a retracting cavitating nose-cone. The Shkval could travel at up to 230 mph.

If the project progresses a scale model of the Underwater Express will be built with approximate diameter of 8ft and weight of 60 tonnes. Research is currently being performed at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (Rhode Island) and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (San Diego).

Cool stuff.

I can already see one of these slamming into something though. When a torpedo hits and unexpected underwater object it is one thing, when a whole sub does, it's another.

I'd imagine they would only ramp up to supercavitating speed in large deep areas of the ocean.

I already tried to start a thread on this last week, but got no replies!

www.abovetopsecret.com...

More stuff on that:

www.stratmag.com...

An interesting bit from the link above:

But there's one possible use of supercavitation that's so wild it's barely on the radar screen -- exploration of Jupiter's moon, Europa. Magnetic and surface features indicate that this unique water world may contain under ice, an ocean vaster than all the seas of Earth combined.

As it is, NASA plans to land a probe on Europa's surface, melt down through the ice to the expected ocean below, and simply dangle there from a tether to get a sense of the waters.

[edit on 29-11-2006 by jmlima]

As far as the shady companies that make products that are extremely efficient killing tools, General Dynamics has to be the best. A GD building near my area apparently has a full sized Boeing 737 inside it for "Tactical Sims". Makes me a bit uneasy.

They also make F-16's, Mini guns, and other cool toys that have been aforementioned. Since they are a private company, does that mean they will sell me a mini-gun?

I thought cavitation was bad.
There must be a reversal in science somewhere.
Talking to wrong boat man I suppose.

ED:
Wiki doesn't know what it is, it says search.
ED+: Also sounds like the Philadelphia Experiment again.
They haven't been talking to any ET puppets lately I hope.


Here is a wiki page:

Bubbles lowered the propeller performance.
This still sounds in the category of big funding for something
else.


[edit on 8/31/2009 by TeslaandLyne]

[edit on 8/31/2009 by TeslaandLyne]

[edit on 8/31/2009 by TeslaandLyne]

[edit on 8/31/2009 by TeslaandLyne]