By Geoff Fein
Lockheed Martin [LMT] is developing a new extended range capability for the Navy’s Mk 46 and future Mk 54 anti-submarine torpedo that will give the rocket Link 16 capability and enable the missile to be redirected in flight, according to a company official.
The Vertical Launch Anti-Submarine Rocket-Extended Range (VLA-ER) is being developed using internal research and development (IRAD) funds, Steve Firestone, Lockheed Martin VLA business development manager, told reporters at a briefing in Arlington, Va., earlier this week.
Lockheed Martin has taken a mock-up of the torpedo, outfitted it with wing tips, and conducted flight stability tests in a wind tunnel, he said.
The Navy deploys VLA from both Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and Ticonderoga-class cruisers, Firestone said.
VLA-ER will add wing tips, along with Link 16 to the Navy’s existing inventory of anti-submarine rockets, he said.
Aside from having Link 16, the ship-launched VLA-ER will also reach a higher altitude than the current VLA and the addition of wing tips will extend the rockets range by four to five times, Firestone said.
Lockheed Martin’s VLA-ER will climb to a higher altitude (upward of 25,000 feet) than the Navy’s current rocket, will reach speeds up to 200 knots, but just as with VLA, it will use a parachute to slow down the rocket before it enters the water, Firestone noted.
“VLA-ER will reuse 80 to 90 percent of the current VLA’s components,” he added.
Using the current missile for VLA-ER will result in a cost savings to the Navy because there won’t be a need to test a new missile, Firestone said.
There about 900 VLA missiles made, Firestone added, for the U.S. Navy as well as 12 international customers, either through foreign military sales or direct commercial sales.
Raytheon [RTN] makes the MK 46 and Mk 54 torpedoes.
While the current VLA uses the Mk 46, Lockheed Martin hopes to add its wing tip to it as the Navy incorporates the new rocket into its inventory, Firestone said.
Operational testing for the Mk 54 is expected to begin next month, he added.
However, the current VLA nose cap will need to be changed out for the VLA-ER configuration, Firestone said.
VLA-ER will be a common configuration for both the ship launched and air dropped variant.
VLA-ER is similar in many respects to Lockheed Martin’s efforts in developing the High Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapons Concept (HAAWC), designed to drop a torpedo from a P-3 surveillance aircraft at an altitude of 20,000 feet.
HAAWC employs Lockheed Martin’s LongShot Wing Adapter Kit that enables the launch of torpedoes from high altitudes and long standoff ranges, allowing P-3 aircrews to remain beyond the reach of enemy air defenses, the company said (Defense Daily, May 30, 2007).