# China developing a supersonic submarine



## CougarKing (26 Aug 2014)

Mods, please keep this separate from the China superthread.

Source: Washington Post



> *Chinese reportedly working on submarine that would ‘fly’ in an ‘air bubble’*
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## c_canuk (26 Aug 2014)

if they can't do it silently, then there is no point.

Surface vessels can already go extremely fast noisily. The Submarine's advantage is that it can sneak into an area undetected on passive sonar. Slamming though self created cavitation is going to be rather less than stealthy.


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## Kilo_302 (26 Aug 2014)

This is true, but it would be useful for fast transits. While it looks like the Chinese are mainly focused on operations in the littorals, having the ability to get subs into place thousands of miles away in a fraction of the time couldn't be a bad thing. They could just reduce to cruising speed once they're in their AO.


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## Colin Parkinson (26 Aug 2014)

or evade ASW assets once they completed an attack.


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## Kirkhill (26 Aug 2014)

What's wrong with the Thunderbird 2 solution for fast transit?






Replace Thunderbird 2 with a C-17. 
Replace Thunderbird 4 with a suitably sized Midget Sub, a bunch of Autonomous Undersea Vehicles and some CAPTOR mines and you are away to the races.














Of course the Navy might want a Big Honking Mother of a Ship for recovery operations..... >


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## daftandbarmy (28 Aug 2014)

How We Can Get Submarines to Travel at Supersonic Speed

Chinese researchers say they are developing technology that would allow submarines to travel more than 750 mph. That’s faster than commercial aircraft fly, and yes, it is possible.

The technology is called supercavitation, and it’s been around for decades. The idea is to increase the speed of an object like, say, a submarine or torpedo by creating a bubble around it, reducing drag as it moves through the water. The nose of the vehicle typically is designed to create the bubble, and gas often is used to shape the bubble. The Soviets used this trick on the Shkval torpedo in the 1960s and ’70s; it was capable of 230 mph but for no more than a few miles.

http://www.wired.com/2014/08/how-we-can-get-submarines-to-travel-at-supersonic-speed/


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## a_majoor (6 Sep 2014)

Best way to counter this is not to be in the water at all. In the 1950's the Glen Martin company created a B-52 sized jet seaplane (P6M SeaMaster) which would have provided a means to rapidly deploy around the globe, and be able to bring a huge bucket load of sensors, mines, torpedoes or anti ship missiles (as well as nuclear weapons). 

As Kirkhill pointed out, there is no reason a modernized version could not also land and deliver SEALS or midget submarines, UUV's and so on. This would be an extreme version of "Sprint and Drift" tactics (flying around would be the "sprinting", while landing and deploying/retreiving sensors or other items would be the "drifting".

And while a Seamaster might be expensive, it certainly would not cost as much as a frigate, SSN or aircraft carrier. Having a wing of seaplanes to supplement surface warships would make for an interesting mix of capabilities.


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## Colin Parkinson (8 Sep 2014)

daftandbarmy said:
			
		

> How We Can Get Submarines to Travel at Supersonic Speed
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> Chinese researchers say they are developing technology that would allow submarines to travel more than 750 mph. That’s faster than commercial aircraft fly, and yes, it is possible.
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> ...



Now just imagine your navigational calculations are off by just .5 of a degree, traveling in the bubble across the ocean you will have no sensors and going by Dead Reckoning. I imagine them saying: "We should just be passing Midway right abou......."


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## a_majoor (8 Sep 2014)

In the equipment thread I posted about two very long duration, low energy, slow and essentially silent types of platforms which could be deployed to provide sensor coverage to wide areas (or dumped in a limited AO to provide saturation coverage). Look up Sea Glider and Wave Glider to see how these essentially engineless ships work. Expanded view of a Wave Glider platform attached)

A screen of these patrolling in the Western Pacific will be able to provide much more coverage and warning about any sort of submarines or other naval activity in the area.


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