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.

FMI: www.raytheon.com, www.navy.mil