Shkval-E underwater rocket promoted for harbour role
By Miroslav Gyürösi
While the existence of a Shkval-E export variant fitted with a conventional warhead has been known for some time, open marketing of the system only began this year, with presentations to potential clients being made at the 2005 International Naval Defence Exhibition in St Petersburg and the MAKS 2005 exhibition at Zhukovsky. Although representatives of the Tactical Missiles Corporation (NPO Region JSC) are saying very little publicly about the system, some details have emerged.
The basic architecture being proposed consists of a surveillance radar teamed with an electro-optical surveillance system, plus different patterns of missile launcher. The Shkval rocket-torpedo can be fired from surface platforms or from underwater installations located at a depth of up to 100 m. The weapon is fired from either a torpedo tube or a special container-launcher.
A twin-round launcher can be mounted on various platforms including an anchored pontoon or a catamaran-like anchored barge, while a four-tube launcher can be installed on a special floating submersible-anchored buoy.
Shkval is able to attain speeds far above those of a conventional torpedo by exploiting supercavitation. Exhaust gases from small starter rockets are fed to and released from vents in the weapon's nose, a hardware feature shown publicly for the first time as a result of recent marketing efforts. This nose-mounted cavitator creates a partial cavity around the weapon's nose. The main rocket is then fired and its gases are used to expand the initial partial cavity at the nose to create a supercavitating bubble along the torpedo's body.
