Torpedo "Physicist": stealthy and deadly. "Physicist" without lyrics: what is the power of the new universal torpedo Deep-sea torpedo case physicist 2

In the mass consciousness, submarines are perceived primarily as carriers of missile weapons. Well, what about torpedoes? Are they in the past? And if they did, then why did serial deliveries of the new generation Fizik torpedoes go to the Russian fleet? Let's look into this, based on the most general considerations dictated by elementary physics.

Mikhail Vannakh

The weapon that made the submarine a full-fledged warship was a torpedo. It was the torpedoes that allowed the tiny five-hundred-ton U-9 submarine with archaic kerosene engines (a kind of kerosene gas, only the gasified fuel went not into the burners, but into the Otto gas engine) to send three British ships to the bottom on September 22, 1914 armored cruisers with a displacement of 36,000 tons - HMS Aboukir, Cressy, Hogue. The loss of the Royal Navy - 1459 people - almost equaled the losses at Trafalgar.

The price of a dense medium

Both the submarine and the torpedoes operate in a medium with a density a thousand times higher than air - in water. It was the water that made the tiny submarine invisible, which made it possible to approach the firing distance without fear of the fire of the numerous cannons of the British armored giants.

And it was water with its high density that provided the impressive lethality that the 123-kilogram warheads of 45-centimeter torpedoes demonstrated on the very strong hulls of British cruisers. An explosion in water is much more destructive than an explosion in air. Yes, and an underwater hole into which water flows is much worse than surface, air-blown destruction.

But for everything - including the secrecy provided by the density of the environment - you have to pay. First of all, the cost of energy spent on overcoming the resistance of water. This led to an extremely low speed of torpedoes compared to artillery shells. Those C45 / 06, which was armed with U-9, had a stroke of 26 knots at a firing range of 3000 m and 34.5 knots at a firing range of 1500 m. In addition, in a dense environment, any deflecting moment - asymmetry of the hull, propeller thrust, impact waves - will have an incomparably stronger effect than in the air.

So from the very beginning, torpedo weapons were, if not controlled, then stabilized weapons. Aubrey's gyroscopic device, with the help of steering machines and horizontal rudders, did not allow the torpedo to go off course. Hydrostats measuring water pressure, controlling vertical rudders, kept the torpedo at a given depth, preventing it from diving deep, passing under the bottom of the target, or jumping to the surface. Similar opportunities - stabilization on the trajectory - rockets of the Smerch complex received only in the 1970s, when it was necessary to increase the firing range of the MLRS with acceptable scattering to 70 km. Such is the difference in the properties of water and air.

One kilometer deep

For most of its history, submarines were armed with torpedoes and it was with their help that they fought. But then missiles came to the submarine fleet. They made it possible to combine stealth submarines with high speed and the range provided by the projectile moving in the air. Strategic - such as UGM-27 Polaris missiles launched from vertical silos. Tactical - designed to deal with Soviet submarines: NATO submarines were equipped with UUM-44 SUBROC rocket-torpedoes launched from torpedo tubes. A solid rocket engine lifted the SUBROC out of the water and, under the control of an inertial control system, led in the air to a target at a distance of up to 55 km - the target was hit by a five-kiloton W55 nuclear warhead.

By the seventies of the last century, the torpedo faded into the background. She remained a "niche" weapon designed to fight submarines. And it was for this purpose that the previous domestic torpedo, the USET-80, was created, a universal homing electric torpedo, put into service in 1980. Why was this torpedo electric?

The fact is that in the seventies it was assumed that the working depth of promising US submarines would reach 1000 m. It was under a kilometer-long water column that the Soviet torpedo was supposed to hit them. But a kilometer of depth is a pressure of a hundred atmospheres. And any heat engine is designed to work in environment with low pressure.

So the creators of the USET-80 had to resort to an electric motor powered by a silver-magnesium battery, which is activated by sea water. This ensured operation at a kilometer depth, allowed the torpedo to reach a speed of 45 knots, and at 43 knots reach a range of 18 km. In a dense environment, where optics and radars do not work, at the then level of development of hydroacoustic means, this was quite enough.

Following the submarine

But in reality, the development of the technology of the Western Navy did not go as it was seen in the 1970s. Multi-purpose submarines of the Seawolf class, which entered service since 1997, have an operating depth of 480 m and a maximum depth of 600 m. Cheaper and mass-produced boats Virginia class, entering service since 2004, the maximum depth is limited to 488 m. The German U-212 class submarines have a maximum depth of 350 m, and their export version of the U-214, which is in service with the Turkish Navy, has 400 m. So nothing about what kind of work of torpedoes at a kilometer depth is out of the question today.

At present, the Marine Thermal Engineering Research Institute (St. Petersburg) has developed the UGST "Case", which is an improved version of the "Physicist" torpedo and has similar parameters. UGST are produced at JSC "Plant" Dagdiesel "" (Kaspiysk, Dagestan).

But modern submarines of respected partners go fast: Seawolf speeds up to 35 knots. And, as is easy to understand, firing a torpedo with a cruising range limited to 18 km is a difficult task, even if we take into account the homing capabilities of the USET-80 torpedo, which is capable of chasing an enemy submarine along the wake or approaching a target with the help of an active-passive sonar.

But no matter how sophisticated the control system is, the fundamental limitations of speed and power reserve impose their own restrictions on the use of torpedoes on high-speed maneuvering targets. For example, if our submarine were strictly behind the stern of the Sivulf in full swing, firing a USET-80 torpedo in pursuit from a distance of 3-4 km would not make sense: there would not be enough torpedo power reserve to reduce the distance to zero. For an hour on the move at 43 knots, she will be able to approach the submarine only 14.8 km. But the batteries will last less than a quarter of an hour ...

UGST "Physicist" was put into service in 2015 and is installed on submarines of projects 885 ("Ash") and 955 ("Borey"). In the photo: the Alexander Nevsky nuclear submarine is the second ship built as part of Project 955.

If a torpedo had infinite speed or an infinite cruising range, then, having established contact with the target, it would be guaranteed to hit it within the radius of action or at a speed at least slightly inferior to the speed of the torpedo. But in reality, this does not happen, and therefore the most important task was to increase the speed and power reserve of the new domestic UGST torpedo. And since it became clear that torpedoes would not have to dive a kilometer, they turned to chemical fuel, proven by centuries of practice, more energy-intensive for the same mass.

Fuel of the 21st century

The propulsion system of the Fizik torpedo uses a single-component fuel - about the same as modern solid-propellant rockets. Only in a torpedo it is not solid, but liquid. Which one? Well, we probably won't make much mistake in assuming that it is in in general terms similar to the Otto Fuel II monopropellant used in NATO torpedoes.

This fuel has nothing to do with the Otto gas engine - it is named after the inventor Otto Reitlinger and consists of propylene glycol dinitrate (aka 1,2-propanediol dinitrate) stabilized with 2-nitrodiphenylamine and desensitized (lost detonation sensitivity) with dibutyl sebacate. It is a reddish-orange oily liquid with a pungent odor. Non-volatile, non-explosive, although quite poisonous. And it contains much more energy than any rechargeable battery.

UGST "Physicist" has both a wake homing mode and a telecontrol mode, when the submarine's hydroacoustic system follows the target, and torpedo commands are transmitted via fiber optic cable.

Well, in order to extract this energy, a single-component fuel is heated by a starting powder charge. The resulting gases go into the cylinders of the axial piston engine, where they are burned. Axial piston is an engine where the cylinders are arranged in a circle in parallel, with axes to each other, and a swash plate is used instead of a crankshaft. Once it was invented for aviation, but now it has taken root in torpedoes.

The axial motor is loaded with a low-noise jet motor. So the universal deep-sea homing torpedo "Physicist" has a speed of 50 knots with a range of 50 km, which significantly expands the tactics of its use compared to the USET-80. According to the Navy, the launch of the "Physics" from modern torpedo tubes is almost silent, which excludes the unmasking of the attacking boat. Both the homing system and the wired telecontrol system can direct the torpedo to the target, when the submarine's hydroacoustic system follows the target, and the torpedo commands are transmitted via fiber optic cable.

UGST "Physicist"

Since the size of the sensors of the hydroacoustic station is larger on the boat, and the processors that process their data are more powerful, this application scheme gives better chances in a duel with an enemy submarine than with homing. The higher maneuverability of the "Physics" also helps this: after launch, its rudders go beyond the contour of the torpedo (in much the same way as the stabilizers of the 9M111 Fagot ATGM open), which provides greater control efficiency over a wide range of speeds. And this is necessary because with remote control - when a torpedo drags a cable or a coil of wire - you have to reduce the speed of the torpedo, paying with an increase in travel time for stealth.

So torpedo weapons are becoming more adequate for the tasks set by the 21st century. It can be launched from greater depths than rockets - up to 400 m. It has a lower level of unmasking factors, primarily noise: a torpedo delicately enters a liquid medium, and a rocket bursts into it with a blow of hot gases from the engine, almost an explosion. But the specific tactics of using this weapon is a military secret, much more serious than information about this weapon itself ...

Despite the rapid development of anti-submarine missile weapons observed over the past ten years, various types of torpedoes still remain the main means of destroying submarines and one of the most effective means of destroying enemy surface ships. Russia, as before, occupies a leading position in the development of torpedo weapons for arming submarines and surface ships.

Universal deep-sea homing torpedo (UGST) is one of the most unique examples of Russian torpedo weapons. A few years ago, the manufacturer received documents giving the right to export this product. The UGST torpedo was exhibited at two International Naval Shows (IMDS) held in St. Petersburg.

Moreover, during the first show, in 2003, when they wanted to openly present the torpedo to a wide range of specialists for the first time, due to some problems with the special services, the UGST was hidden from the audience on the second day, wrapped in carpet and rewound with tape. This circumstance caused a real sensation not only among foreign, but also among Russian journalists writing on military-technical topics.

However, even without this “incident”, which looks like footage from a bad spy movie, many experts in the field of naval technology quite deservedly pay increased attention to this type of weapons and military equipment. But now it is possible, without looking back at the competent authorities, to talk about the UGST, which is an excellent example of a torpedo weapon. This torpedo was developed by specialists from the St. Petersburg Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Scientific Research Institute of Marine Thermal Engineering" and the GNPP "Region" near Moscow.

UGST - universal deep-sea homing, designed to destroy enemy surface ships. The UGST can be fired from 533mm torpedo tubes. In addition, the torpedo is universal in terms of carrier, that is, it can be used by both submarines and surface ships.
There are two modifications of the UGST torpedo:
- for Russian torpedo tubes, the length of the torpedo is 7.2 meters;
- export version for NATO torpedo tubes, torpedo length 6.1 meters.

Compatibility of the carrier equipment and the onboard systems of the torpedo is made by the software setting of the system unit during binding to a certain type of ship. Moreover, to accommodate a universal deep-sea homing torpedo on some modernized ships, it is possible to supply an adapter pre-launch preparation panel that allows you to enter data into the torpedo before firing.

Russian specialists in this product were able to implement modern concept heavy torpedo. The intellectual level of the onboard equipment of the torpedo was increased, and high tactical and technical characteristics were achieved, such as depth, range and speed.

Main characteristics of UGST:
Caliber - 534.4 mm
Length - 7200 mm
Weight - 2200 kg
Warhead mass - 300 kg
Speed - 50 knots
Firing range - 40 km
Depth - up to 500 m
Submarine firing depth - up to 400 m
SSN response radius:
- by submarine up to 2.5 km
- on a surface ship up to 1.2 km

With the TPS-53 thermal propulsion system, the speed of a torpedo can reach 65 knots, and the maximum range is 60 km. In addition to the wake homing mode, the torpedo has a wire control mode (for 5 ... 25 km, depending on the type of target), and a course following mode (with a given number of knees and lapels).

An important distinguishing feature of this torpedo is its modular design. This allows you to create a whole family of torpedoes that have a multi-level modifiability potential: from reprogramming the equipment in the base model to replacing the tank compartment or engine. This approach makes it possible to quickly complete the UGTS for the specifics of specific conditions. combat use torpedoes.

UGST constructively includes:
— hardware module;
- charging fighting compartment;
- reservoir compartment with a compartment for telecontrol equipment;
- propulsion system (power department);
- tail compartment, in which the steering devices are located;
- telecontrol coil and AERVD.

The UGST power plant was built on the basis of an axial-piston engine operating on a well-proven liquid single-component fuel. The rotating combustion chamber is a feature of the engine. Fuel is supplied by a plunger high-pressure pump.

The starting powder charge placed in the combustion chamber makes it possible to increase the power of the propulsion system in a short time. This is especially important on initial stage torpedo progress. The torpedo is propelled by a unique low-noise water cannon connected directly to the engine.

The basis of the architecture of the UGST hardware module is the initiation of a single reprogrammable computing core on board, which combines the information parts of the torpedo's onboard systems into a single information space of integrated control systems.

Russian designers implemented another "know-how" in the UGST - two-plane rudders that extend beyond the caliber of the torpedo after it exits the torpedo tube. According to the calculations of engineers, this design of the rudders can significantly reduce the noise of the torpedo. The operation of the rudders is also very effective and allows the torpedo to confidently pass the difficult initial section of the path after it is fired from the torpedo tube of a surface ship or submarine.

As for the warhead of the torpedo (combat charging compartment), it is a compartment with an insert capsule in which an explosive is placed. Several modifications of the combat charging compartment have been developed, differing in the mass and composition of the explosive, as well as the initiation system during detonation.

head compartment, which houses the hardware module, is located in front of the fighting compartment. The hardware module includes systems of homing, motion control, telecontrol and others. The homing system of a universal deep-sea homing torpedo is active-passive. It includes a flat receiving and emitting antenna array, in which the field of view is regulated, and specially designed devices for active multichannel sonars.

The homing system effectively searches, detects and captures an enemy target from any depth. It also provides for the possibility of attacking the wake of the target. The head part of the universal deep-sea homing torpedo differs in its shape from other torpedoes. It has a blunt shape with a flat wall, behind which the CCH antenna is installed.

All UGST units and systems have passed all laboratory and bench testing at specialized test facilities of the Research Institute of Marine Thermal Engineering and Research and Production Enterprise "Region", which recently became part of the Corporation "Tactical missile armament". During full-scale tests of the torpedo, the mobile sonar range (MHL) was used to the fullest.

Mobile sonar range is designed to record and control torpedo trajectories, as well as the level of underwater noise during fleet combat training, research and factory tests in water areas up to 100 square kilometers and depths up to 300 meters (when anchored) or without restrictions (when unanchored staging). The MPG equipment includes up to 36 radio-acoustic buoys with a satellite navigation system and a control panel with a situation tablet placed on a support vessel or on a coastal center.

To control the location of ships, ships and aircraft use VHF transmitters that are associated with the navigation equipment of objects. The situation board monitors the trajectories of targets and torpedoes, the locations of surface and underwater support systems in real time.

Data processing methods developed by Russian specialists combine mathematical and empirical procedures and allow the use of a standard GAS of a firing surface ship or submarine. The hydrology of the polygon is taken into account by specially designed equipment for measuring the vertical distribution of sound velocity and a set of programs for calculating sound fields in the test area of Russian development.

A complex of torpedo weapons with a universal deep-sea homing torpedo is supplied to the customer in the following configuration:
- universal deep-sea homing torpedo in practical and combat configuration;
- spare parts for torpedoes;
- operational equipment designed for the preparation, testing and repair of torpedoes;
- systems and equipment for training and education of ship combat crews;
— onshore maintenance complex UGST.

Practical torpedo designed for personnel training. This torpedo is obtained by replacing the combat charging compartment with a practical compartment. The positive buoyancy of such a torpedo is ensured by incomplete filling of the fuel tank.

The creation of the UGST torpedo was the result of the evolution of Russian torpedo weapons, it was a response to trends in the development of weapons for surface ships and submarines. This happened due to the improvement of hydroacoustics, an increase in the computing capabilities of the onboard radio electronic equipment, equipping torpedoes with high-efficiency telecontrol systems, as well as the development by specialists of fundamentally new tactical methods for the combat use of torpedoes in modern conditions of warfare at sea, taking into account the possibility of active counteraction to a torpedo.

In the mass consciousness, submarines are perceived primarily as carriers of missile weapons. Well, what about torpedoes? Are they in the past?

And if they did, then why did serial deliveries of a new generation of torpedoes "Physicist" go to the Russian fleet? Let's look into this, based on the most general considerations dictated by elementary physics.

The weapon that made the submarine a full-fledged warship was a torpedo. It was the torpedoes that allowed the tiny five-hundred-ton U-9 submarine with archaic kerosene engines (a kind of kerosene gas, only the gasified fuel went not into the burners, but into the Otto gas engine) to send three British armored cruisers with a displacement of 36,000 tons to the bottom on September 22, 1914 - HMS Aboukir, Cressy, Hogue.

The loss of the Royal Navy - 1459 people - almost equaled the losses at Trafalgar.

The price of a dense medium

Yes, and an underwater hole into which water flows is much worse than surface, air-blown destruction.

Those C45 / 06s with which the U-9 was armed had a stroke of 26 knots at a firing range of 3000 m and 34.5 knots at a firing range of 1500 m. In addition, in a dense environment, any deflecting moment - asymmetry of the hull, propeller thrust, impact waves - will have an incomparably stronger effect than in the air.

Hydrostats measuring water pressure, controlling vertical rudders, kept the torpedo at a given depth, preventing it from diving deep, passing under the bottom of the target, or jumping to the surface.

Similar opportunities - stabilization on the trajectory - rockets of the "Smerch" complex received only in the 1970s, when it was necessary to increase the firing range of the MLRS with acceptable scattering to 70 km. Such is the difference in the properties of water and air.

One kilometer deep

Strategic - such as UGM-27 Polaris missiles launched from vertical silos. Tactical - designed to deal with Soviet submarines: NATO submarines were equipped with UUM-44 SUBROC rocket-torpedoes launched from torpedo tubes.

A solid rocket engine lifted the SUBROC out of the water and, under the control of an inertial control system, led in the air to a target at a distance of up to 55 km - the target was hit by a five-kiloton W55 nuclear warhead.

In a dense environment, where optics and radars do not work, at the then level of development of hydroacoustic means, this was quite enough.

Following the submarine

But in reality, the development of the technology of the Western Navy did not go as it was seen in the 1970s. Seawolf-class multi-purpose submarines, which have been in service since 1997, have an operating depth of 480 m and a maximum depth of 600 m.

Cheaper and mass-produced Virginia-class boats, which have been in service since 2004, have a maximum depth limit of 488 m. The German U-212 class submarines have a maximum depth of 350 m, and their export version U-214, which is in service with the Turkish Navy, - 400 m. So there is no talk of any work of torpedoes at a kilometer depth today.

But no matter how sophisticated the control system is, the fundamental limitations of speed and power reserve impose their own restrictions on the use of torpedoes on high-speed maneuvering targets.

For example, if our submarine were strictly behind the stern of the Sivulf in full swing, firing a USET-80 torpedo in pursuit from a distance of 3-4 km would not make sense: there would not be enough torpedo power reserve to reduce the distance to zero. For an hour on the move at 43 knots, she will be able to approach the submarine only 14.8 km. But the batteries will last less than a quarter of an hour ...

But in reality, this does not happen, and therefore the most important task was to increase the speed and power reserve of the new domestic UGST torpedo. And since it became clear that torpedoes would not have to dive a kilometer, they turned to chemical fuel, proven by centuries of practice, more energy-intensive for the same mass.

Fuel of the 21st century

The propulsion system of the "Physicist" torpedo uses single-component fuel - about the same as modern solid-propellant rockets. Only in a torpedo it is not solid, but liquid. Which one? Well, we probably won't be much mistaken if we assume that it is in general terms similar to the Otto Fuel II monopropellant used in NATO countries' torpedoes.

Well, in order to extract this energy, a single-component fuel is heated by a starting powder charge. The resulting gases go into the cylinders of the axial piston engine, where they are burned.

Axial piston is an engine where the cylinders are arranged in a circle in parallel, with axes to each other, and a swash plate is used instead of a crankshaft. Once it was invented for aviation, but now it has taken root in torpedoes.

According to the Navy, the launch of the "Physics" from modern torpedo tubes is almost silent, which excludes the unmasking of the attacking boat. Both the homing system and the wired telecontrol system can direct the torpedo to the target, when the submarine's hydroacoustic system follows the target, and the torpedo commands are transmitted via fiber optic cable.

UGST "Physicist"

The higher maneuverability of the "Physics" also helps this: after launch, its rudders go beyond the contour of the torpedo (in much the same way as the stabilizers of the 9M111 Fagot ATGM open), which provides greater control efficiency over a wide range of speeds.

And this is necessary because with telecontrol - when a torpedo drags a cable or a coil of wire - you have to reduce the speed of the torpedo, paying with an increase in travel time for stealth.

So torpedo weapons are becoming more adequate for the tasks set by the 21st century. It can be launched from depths greater than rockets - up to 400 m.

It has a lower level of unmasking factors, primarily noise: a torpedo delicately enters a liquid medium, and a rocket bursts into it with a blow of hot gases from the engine, almost an explosion. But the specific tactics of using this weapon is a military secret, much more serious than information about this weapon itself ...

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In the mass consciousness, submarines are perceived primarily as carriers of missile weapons. Well, what about torpedoes? Are they in the past? And if they remained, then why did serial deliveries of the new generation Physicist torpedoes go to the Russian fleet? Let's look into this, based on the most general considerations dictated by elementary physics.

The weapon that made the submarine a full-fledged warship was a torpedo. It was the torpedoes that allowed the tiny five-hundred-ton U-9 submarine with archaic kerosene engines (a kind of kerosene gas, only the gasified fuel went not into the burners, but into the Otto gas engine) to send three British armored cruisers with a displacement of 36,000 tons to the bottom on September 22, 1914 - HMS Aboukir, Cressy, Hogue. The loss of the Royal Navy - 1459 people - almost equaled the losses at Trafalgar.

The price of a dense medium

But for everything - including the secrecy provided by the density of the medium - you have to pay. First of all, the cost of energy spent on overcoming the resistance of water. This led to an extremely low speed of torpedoes compared to artillery shells. Those C45 / 06s with which the U-9 was armed had a stroke of 26 knots at a firing range of 3000 m and 34.5 knots at a firing range of 1500 m. In addition, in a dense environment, any deflecting moment - asymmetry of the hull, propeller thrust, impact waves - will have an incomparably stronger effect than in the air.

So from the very beginning, torpedo weapons were, if not controlled, then stabilized weapons. Aubrey's gyroscopic device, with the help of steering machines and horizontal rudders, did not allow the torpedo to go off course. Hydrostats measuring water pressure, controlling vertical rudders, kept the torpedo at a given depth, preventing it from diving deep, passing under the bottom of the target, or jumping to the surface. Similar opportunities - stabilization on the trajectory - rockets of the "Smerch" complex received only in the 1970s, when it was necessary to increase the firing range of the MLRS with acceptable scattering to 70 km. Such is the difference in the properties of water and air.

If a torpedo had an infinite speed or an infinite cruising range, then, having established contact with the target, it would be guaranteed to hit it within the radius of action or at a speed at least slightly inferior to the speed of the torpedo. But in reality, this does not happen, and therefore the most important task was to increase the speed and power reserve of the new domestic UGST torpedo. And since it became clear that torpedoes would not have to dive a kilometer, they turned to chemical fuel, proven by centuries of practice, more energy-intensive for the same mass.

Fuel of the 21st century

UGST "Physicist" has both a wake homing mode and a telecontrol mode, when the submarine's hydroacoustic system follows the target, and torpedo commands are transmitted via fiber optic cable.

According to the Izvestiya newspaper, the Russian Navy has adopted a new Fizik-2 torpedo. As reported, this torpedo is designed to arm the latest Project 955 Borey submarine missile carriers and Project 885855M Yasen multi-purpose nuclear submarines of the new generation.

Until recently, the situation with torpedo weapons for the Russian Navy it was rather bleak - despite the presence of modern third-generation nuclear submarines and the emergence of the latest fourth-generation submarines, their combat capabilities were significantly limited by the available torpedo weapons, significantly inferior not only to new, but also to a large extent obsolete models of foreign torpedoes. And not only American and European, but even Chinese.

The main task of the Soviet submarine fleet was to fight the surface ships of a potential enemy, primarily American convoys, which, if outgrown cold war"hot" were supposed to deliver to Europe American troops, weapons and military equipment, various supplies and logistics. The most advanced in the Soviet submarine fleet were "thermal" torpedoes 53-65K and 65-76, designed to destroy ships - for their time they had high speed characteristics and range, as well as unique system locating the wake, which made it possible to "catch" the wake of an enemy ship and follow along it until it hits the target. At the same time, they provided complete freedom of maneuver for the carrier submarine after launch. The monstrous torpedo 65-76 with a caliber of 650 millimeters was especially effective. It had a huge range - 100 kilometers at a speed of 35 knots and 50 kilometers at a speed of 50 knots, and the most powerful 765-kg warhead was enough to inflict heavy damage even on an aircraft carrier (only a few torpedoes were required to sink an aircraft carrier) and guaranteed to sink one torpedo ship of any other class.

However, the appearance in the 1970s of the so-called universal torpedoes appeared - they could be used equally effectively both against surface ships and against submarines. There was also a new torpedo guidance system - remote control. With this method of guiding a torpedo, control commands are transmitted to it using an unwinding wire, which makes it easy to "parry" target maneuvers and optimize the trajectory of the torpedo, which in turn allows you to expand the effective range of the torpedo. However, in the field of creating universal remote-controlled torpedoes in the Soviet Union, it was not possible to achieve any significant success Moreover, Soviet universal torpedoes were already significantly inferior to their foreign counterparts. Firstly, all Soviet universal torpedoes were electric, i.e. driven by electricity from batteries placed on board. They are easier to operate, have less noise when moving and do not leave an unmasking mark on the surface, but at the same time, in terms of range and speed, they are very much inferior to combined-cycle or so-called. "thermal" torpedoes. Secondly, the highest level of automation of Soviet submarines, including the automatic loading system for torpedo tubes, imposed design restrictions on the torpedo and did not allow the implementation of the so-called. telecontrol hose system when the coil with telecontrol cable is in the torpedo tube. Instead, a towed coil had to be used, which drastically limits the capabilities of the torpedo. If the telecontrol hose system allows the submarine to freely maneuver after launching a torpedo, then towed maneuvers after launch are extremely limited - in this case, the telecontrol cable is guaranteed to break, moreover, there is a high probability of it breaking off from the oncoming water flow. The towed coil also does not allow salvo torpedo firing.

In the late 1980s, work began on the creation of new torpedoes, but due to the collapse Soviet Union they were continued only into the new millennium. As a result, Russian submarines were left with ineffective torpedoes. The main universal torpedo USET-80 had completely unsatisfactory performance, and the existing anti-submarine torpedoes SET-65, which had good performance at the time they were put into service in 1965, were already obsolete. At the beginning of the 21st century, the 65-76 torpedo was decommissioned, which in 2000 caused the Kursk submarine disaster that shook the whole country. Russian multi-purpose submarines have lost their "far arm" and the most effective torpedo for fighting surface ships. Thus, by the beginning of the current decade, the situation with submarine torpedo weapons was completely depressing - they had extremely weak capabilities in a duel situation with enemy submarines and limited capabilities to hit surface targets. However last problem managed to partially overcome by equipping submarines with modernized 53-65K torpedoes since 2011, which may have received new system homing and higher characteristics of range and speed were provided. However, the capabilities of Russian torpedoes were significantly inferior to modern modifications of the main American universal torpedo Mk-48. The fleet, obviously, needed new universal torpedoes that meet modern requirements.

In 2003, a new torpedo UGST (Universal Deep Sea Homing Torpedo) was presented at the International Naval Show. For the Russian Navy, this torpedo was named "Physicist". According to reports, since 2008, the Dagdiesel plant has been producing limited batches of these torpedoes for testing on the latest submarines of projects 955 and 885. mass production these torpedoes and equipping them with the latest submarines, which had previously had to be armed with obsolete torpedoes. For example, the Severodvinsk submarine, which joined the fleet in 2014, was initially armed with obsolete USET-80 torpedoes. According to open sources, as the number of new torpedoes produced increases, older submarines will also be armed with them.

In 2016, it was reported that a new torpedo "Case" was being tested on Lake Issyk-Kul and that it was to be put into service in 2017, after which the production of "Physicist" torpedoes would be curtailed and instead of them, the fleet would begin to receive other, more perfect torpedoes. However, on July 12, 2017, the Izvestiya newspaper and a number of Russian news agencies reported that a new Fizik-2 torpedo had been adopted by the Russian Navy. At the moment, it is completely unclear whether the torpedo, which was called the "Case" or the torpedo "Case" - a fundamentally new torpedo, has been adopted. In favor of the first version, the fact that, as reported last year, the "Case" torpedo is a further development of the "Physicist" torpedo can testify. The same is said about the "Physicist-2" torpedo.

The "Physicist" torpedo has a range of 50 km at a speed of 30 knots and 40 kilometers at a speed of 50 knots. Torpedo "Physicist-2" is reported to have increased to 60 knots (about 110 mph) top speed due to the new turbine engine 19DT with a power of 800 kW. Torpedo "Physicist" has an active-passive homing system and a telecontrol system. The torpedo homing system when firing at surface targets ensures the detection of the wake of an enemy ship at a distance of 2.5 kilometers and aiming at the target using wake tracking. Apparently, a new generation wake tracking system is installed on the torpedo, which is not very susceptible to sonar countermeasures. For firing at submarines, the homing system has active sonars capable of "capturing" an enemy submarine at a distance of up to 1200 meters. Probably the newest torpedo "Physicist-2" has an even more advanced homing system. It also seems likely that the torpedo received a hose reel instead of a towed one. Reportedly, the overall combat capabilities of this torpedo are comparable to those of the latest modifications of the American Mk-48 torpedo.

Thus, the situation with the "torpedo crisis" in the Russian Navy has been reversed, and perhaps in the coming years it will be possible to equip all Russian submarines with new universal high-performance torpedoes that will significantly expand the potential of the Russian submarine fleet.

Pavel Rumyantsev

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