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| Caribbean-Latin America | |
| Cuba's Mystery Torpedo Project | |
| 2005-03-02 | |
| March 1, 2005: Cuba, despite it's failing economy, and the general impoverishment of its population, spends a lot of money on some things. Stuff like training doctors, genetic research and building torpedoes. This last one is kept pretty secret, but something along those lines is going on at the Cabanes Naval Base. What kind of torpedo? Modern torpedoes, like the American Mk 48, are not only very complex, but require extensive industrial infrastructure to build. But what if Cuba simply modified old Soviet torpedoes, like those it received with its Soviet torpedo craft, or bought on the black market. Let's say they built a truck mounted launcher, and fitted the torpedo with a wake homing guidance system for the warhead. Adding more range, plus the wake homing capability, produces the a weapon with the ability to do some terrorism via torpedo. At night, how's the passing ship even going to detect the wake homer, unless someone in the warships offshore are paying close attention to their passive sonar. The U.S. Navy has equipped ships to defend against cruise missiles, but never came up with anything as effective against wake homing torpedoes. These weapons, first developed by the Germans during World War II, were further refined by the Russians until the present. As their name implies, the torpedo homes on its target by detecting the wave motions made by a ships wake. The Cuban's could add length (and more fuel) to a conventional torpedo, giving it a range of 50-100 kilometers. Launching instructions would direct the crew to estimate the speed of passing ships, use an off the shelf GPS device to calculate coordinates the torpedo should head for in order to pick up a wake, enter that data into the torpedo, then launch the torpedo (from a container rolled off a truck that was backed into the surf) and drive away. Within an hour, a passing ship takes a torpedo in the stern. This would badly damage a carrier, or sink smaller ships. The Cubans are probably not including an serial numbers for components going into their torpedoes.
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #8 Someone tell JM to put down the soap and have a nice warm glass of milk. Or tequila. |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2005-03-02 9:12:06 PM |
| #7 The Commies know it - GMD means THEY AND THEIR NUKE BULLY STICK ARE DEAD, FINIS, NADA, GONERS! The only thing they have to show for decades of Socialism, Communism, and feel-good PC is SOLYENT GREEN or Near-SOLYENT GREEN! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2005-03-02 9:09:20 PM |
| #6 The USN can easily deal with wake homing tech -I believe the Cubans are keeping in line with the Russkies and Chicoms in dev hi-tech hybrid weapons, espec as per anti-GMD/AEGIS. GMD and US Battlespace-MilTech Dominance > America's enemies must place more empahsis on RR/RD Airborne Forces, SpecOps, fast Air- and Sea-lift, and STRATEGIC-ASYMMETRIC SUBMARINE WARFARE, Since Russia or China are not in the habit of selling weapons to anyone that is superior to their own, I believe we are likely seeing Cuba's attempt to convert torpedoes into anti-GMD/AEGIS LR, underwater CM's that will "pop-up" only when near its target. The generic/basic torpedo is, after all, an underwater "dumb" missle, and Cuba is close enough to Florida, et al to preclude any real need of boomer or tac subs. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2005-03-02 9:02:56 PM |
| #5 cuz they're nervous and their "navy" wouldn't last til the second pot of coffee on morning shift was finished |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-03-02 7:39:01 PM |
| #4 Steve, My concern here is that StrategyPage's speculation has a habit of being more accurate than some experts' facts. A wake homer is WWII technology and easily within the Cubans' grasp - now I want to know why they are refining a weapon that can whack ships in US waters from their own shores. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2005-03-02 7:28:48 PM |
| #3 the fins for the torpedo came off a '50s Cadillac |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-03-02 2:38:14 PM |
| #2 The U.S. Navy has equipped ships to defend against cruise missiles, but never came up with anything as effective against wake homing torpedoes. :> |
| Posted by: half 2005-03-02 2:16:48 PM |
| #1 Cuba, despite it’s failing economy, and the general impoverishment of its population, But I thought this was the Worker's ParadiseTM? Oliver Stone said so! |
| Posted by: Raj 2005-03-02 12:53:50 PM |