Shkval-E underwater rocket promoted for harbour role
Miroslav Gyürösi
The Russian Tactical Missiles Corporation JSC is marketing a short-range anti-ship missile system armed with a conventional-warhead variant of the Shkval supercavitation underwater rocket-torpedo, writes Miroslav Gyürösi. It is being promoted as an anti-surface ship weapon able to defend harbours and beachheads or to enforce a naval blockade.
Development of the original nuclear-armed version, sometimes referred to by Russian sources as the VA-111, started on 13 October 1960 at NII-24. Today this organisation is known as the NPO Region joint-stock company and is part of the Tactical Missiles Corporation. The weapon was officially accepted into service with what was then the Soviet Navy on 29 November 1977.
This version of Shkval was an underwater rocket-torpedo powered by solid propellant. Used to arm some types of nuclear-powered submarines, it had a maximum speed of 200 kt (370 km/h). Maximum range was 15-20 km.
Although 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.
The conventional-warhead version of Shkval is 8.2 m long, 533.4 mm in diameter and weighs 2,700 kg at launch. The warhead weighs 210 kg. Its underwater speed is 175-194 kt (325-360 km/h) and the maximum range is 10 km. If salvo-launched against a group of targets, each missile can turn ±20°, then head directly for its individual target. Guidance is inertial, using stored target-co-ordinates. There is no homing system.
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.
Instead of being encased in water, the weapon is surrounded by the water vapour in the supercavity, so the skin friction of the weapon is minimal. Since the nose is the only part of the weapon in contact with the water, it is the only part that causes significant drag.
