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The loss of a Republic of Korea Navy warship to a heavyweight torpedo believed to have been fired by a North Korean coastal submarine has provided a shocking reminder to navies and military planners as to the vulnerability of undefended surface ships to torpedo attack.
On the night of 26 March the corvette Cheonan sank in waters just off the south-west coast of Baengnyeong Island, in the Yellow Sea, after a large explosion blew off the stern part of the ship. Forty-six out of the ship’s 104 crew died as a result.
After a painstaking examination of recovered wreckage, together with analysis of material evidence recovered from the seabed, a Joint Civilian-Military Investigation Group on 20 May announced that a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine was responsible for the ship’s sinking. It went on to identify the weapon as a CHT-02D heavyweight homing torpedo with a 250 kg high-explosive warhead.
The incident has served as a powerful reminder of the potency of the torpedo – and a re-awakening of the requirement for an effective anti-submarine warfare capability including robust torpedo defence.
Up until the attack on the Cheonan, the last time that major surface warships came under attack by submarine-launched torpedoes was in the 1982 Falklands conflict. This interregnum may have led some observers to conclude that the threat had gone away. However, a quick look at the export of submarines and heavyweight torpedoes over that same period reveals instead that a large number of regional navies, stretching from the Mediterranean, the Gulf and Indian Ocean through to Southeast Asia, are building up a predominantly anti-surface capability founded on modern diesel-electric submarines equipped with state-of-the art command, fire control and sonar systems and advanced heavyweight torpedoes.
In response, defence laboratories and systems houses alike are investigating methods and means to detect and defeat torpedo threats. These include advanced detection, classification and localisation techniques; soft-kill countermeasures (both towed decoys and offboard devices); and hard-kill defences (through the development of advanced anti-torpedo technology).
UDT Europe 2010 will highlight leading edge developments in this area – all of which have now taken on an even greater significance.
Conference Day 2 – Wed 9 June – Weapons and Countermeasures
Torpedo Defence Hard kill Demonstrator SEASPIDER
Dr. Hanns-W. Leuschner, ATLAS Elektronik GmbH
Possibilities Of The Use And Verification Of Anti-Torpedo Decoy System For Mortar And Air-Pressed Launchers
K. Dymarkowski, R. Zajac, R. Kaminski R&D Marine Technology Centre, Poland
The Application and Demonstration of Classification Techniques for Torpedoes
Andrew Palmer, ATLAS Elektronik UK Ltd
In addition, a number of companies will be displaying their torpedo defence capabilities in the UDT Europe exhibition area. These include:
Atlas Elektronik, showing its SEASPIDER anti-torpedo torpedo
DCNS, exhibiting its Contralto V surface ship torpedo countermeasure system
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, displaying its novel Torbuster hard-kill torpedo countermeasure
Ultra Electronics, showing its in service SEA SENTOR surface ship torpedo countermeasures system
WASS, exhibiting its C-310 anti-torpedo acoustic decoy system
ENDS
For further information please contact Nick Johnstone or Carol Seath at CMS Strategic on Tel: +44 (0)20 8748 9797 or email: carol.seath@cmsstrategic.com
Note to Editors
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