US Navy tests new anti-ship bomb Quicksink

The US Navy has demonstrated the effectiveness of its new Quicksink anti-ship glide bomb by releasing a video of a target vessel being destroyed by a blow to the bottom, causing it to instantly break in two.

Photo: National Archives and Records Administration by Lt. Mitchell, US Navy, P.D.M.

Modern weapons systems are characterized by high precision, which allows for significant damage to be caused even by small charges. By comparison, during World War II, large-scale artillery bombardments and carpet bombing were required to destroy naval targets.

Anti-ship weapons have not remained untouched by progress either. For a long time, the US Navy used Type 46 torpedoes, costing $1.2 million, with a high-explosive warhead weighing 44 kg, which also detonated under the bottom of ships. However, these torpedoes are very outdated. The main problem is that launching a torpedo from a submarine instantly reveals its location, making the submarine an easy target for anti-submarine weapons.

US Air Force engineers decided to take the approach used by their Russian colleagues and equipped the JDAM bomb with a glide module. The result was a precision anti-ship bomb called Quicksink, which cost only $300,000.

Despite the numerous advantages of Quicksink, it also has a significant drawback – a limited range of 75 km, which makes its carrier vulnerable to ship-based air defense systems. However, the developers assure that these bombs will be delivered exclusively by stealth aircraft, which significantly reduces the risk of their interception.

Clarifications

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is one of the branches of the United States Armed Forces. The US Navy is the world leader in the number of aircraft carriers: as of January 2019, 11 aircraft carriers are in service (10 carrier strike groups).

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