I know Sea Lance got cancelled, and that Subroc, as an analog weapon, couldn't be fitted to any of the later submarine classes that had digital fire
control (688 on up).
Sea Lance was ostensibly cancelled for technical reasons and the usual spiraling cost, as well as the diminishing Russian threat. The last one I sort of understand, but the first two I don't. If the Russians were able to field not one but two multi-platform (sub and surface) standoff ASW weapons (SS-N-15 and SS-N-16), why not the Americans?
Would there be any tactical mandate for a conventionally-armed, sub-launched standoff ASW weapon today, especially in the littorals? With the advent of UUV's and offboard networked sensors, it would seem safer to take out a threat from a distance, rather than having to close with, say, an AIP or an SSK on batteries in your comparatively noisy SSN and risk a retaliatory shot. And in a blue-water scenario where at least one of the possible threats has both similarly quiet SSNs and standoff weapons, the same would seem to be true. I know the ADCAP is good, but is it that good? But what do I know?
Sea Lance was ostensibly cancelled for technical reasons and the usual spiraling cost, as well as the diminishing Russian threat. The last one I sort of understand, but the first two I don't. If the Russians were able to field not one but two multi-platform (sub and surface) standoff ASW weapons (SS-N-15 and SS-N-16), why not the Americans?
Would there be any tactical mandate for a conventionally-armed, sub-launched standoff ASW weapon today, especially in the littorals? With the advent of UUV's and offboard networked sensors, it would seem safer to take out a threat from a distance, rather than having to close with, say, an AIP or an SSK on batteries in your comparatively noisy SSN and risk a retaliatory shot. And in a blue-water scenario where at least one of the possible threats has both similarly quiet SSNs and standoff weapons, the same would seem to be true. I know the ADCAP is good, but is it that good? But what do I know?
