Thu, May 15, 2008
Weird Name... Cool Idea
Despite its somewhat-laughable name,
Raytheon's 'Fish Hawk' should not be trifled with. The new weapon
system is the defense contractor's entry in the US Navy's High
Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapons Concept (HAAWC)
competition... and it sounds pretty cool.
The Fish Hawk is a kit that attaches to Raytheon's MK54 torpedo,
and enables submarine-hunting aircraft like the upcoming P-8 Multi
Mission Maritime Aircraft, and current P-3 Orions, to precisely
deploy torpedoes from high altitudes while standing off a safe
distance from a target. Raytheon successfully demonstrating the new
weapon system on March 21 at the Eglin flight demonstration range
in the Gulf of Mexico.
During the March demonstration, an aircraft flying at 15,000
feet jettisoned a Fish Hawk-equipped dummy torpedo. The Fish Hawk's
wings rapidly deployed and the weapon system then glided more than
10 nautical miles, splashing down within the small target area and
achieving all primary test objectives.
"This flight test successfully demonstrated the ability of Fish
Hawk to accurately place the MK54 torpedo on target after release
from a high-altitude aircraft like the P-3 or P-8," said Ken
Pedersen, Raytheon vice president of Advanced Programs. "We look
forward to leveraging our expertise as the world's leader in
precision guided munitions and presenting the customer with a
cost-effective design that meets or exceeds all HAAWC
requirements."
The kit is composed of wings that deploy after the system is
released from an aircraft, a control section and a Global
Positioning System-Inertial Navigation System precision guidance
system. The kit is designed to enable both the P-3 and P-8 (shown
below) to deploy the system from the aircraft bomb bay.
Raytheon says the Fish Hawk also offers new capabilities that
will enable aircraft to launch from higher altitudes and thus
enhance survivability. The system also provides longer time on
station thanks to reduced fuel consumption. Additionally, Fish Hawk
reduces airframe stress because the aircraft is no longer required
to dive down to the target in order to deploy an anti-submarine
torpedo.
The result is a weapon with capabilities similar to its avian
namesake, the osprey... which "fish hawk" is another name for.
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