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Characteristics of the Mk 48 and the Mk 48
ADCAP:
Length:
19 feet
Diameter:
21 inches
Weight:
3,434 pounds (Mk 48) 3,695
pounds (ADCAP)
Speed:
More than 28 knots
Range:
More than 5 nautical miles
Depth:
More than 1,200 feet
Mk 50 Torpedo
The Mk 50 torpedo is an advanced, light-
weight torpedo for use against the faster, deeper-
diving, and more sophisticated submarines being
developed and operated by the Soviet Union. The
Mk 50 can be launched from all ASW aircraft and
from torpedo tubes aboard surface combatant
ships. The Mk 50 uses an active/passive acoustic
homing guidance system. The Mk 50 is being
phased in to replace the Mk 46 torpedo as the
fleet’s lightweight torpedo.
Characteristics of the Mk 50:
Length:
9 feet, 4 inches
Diameter:
12.75 inches
Weight:
750 pounds
Speed:
More than 40 knots
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
The United States has pursued a policy of
making the fewest number of nuclear weapons
cover as wide a range of military applications as
possible. This capability is achieved by planned
interchangeability. Nuclear warheads can be
employed with rockets, torpedoes, missiles, and
depth bombs by use of adaptational kits. Several
Navy weapons (ASROC, for instance) have both
conventional and nuclear capability.
The primary air-launched nuclear weapon is,
of course, the nuclear bomb, of which little can
be said regarding specific characteristics. Major
operational components and nuclear components
contained in a basic assembly are considered part
of the bomb. A complete stockpiled weapon,
however, may consist of more than one package.
The reason is additional assemblies, such as the
fuze, firing set, radar, and power supply, maybe
required to makeup the complete nuclear weapon.
Because of the radioactive mushroom-type
cloud resulting from a nuclear bomb, the deploy-
ing aircraft crew must be protected once a bomb
is dropped. A safe separation time is provided
by two methods. One is the use of a timing
mechanism inserted in the bomb to delay
detonation. The second is the use of a parachute
to slow the bomb (retarded free-fall bomb). Either
method allows the aircraft to reach a point of
safety before weapon detonation.
AEGIS WEAPONS SYSTEM
Any discussion of the Navy’s weapons systems
would not be complete without a look at the
shipboard integrated AAW combat weapons
system (Aegis). For more than 40 years, the U.S.
Navy has developed systems and tactics to protect
itself from air attacks. Since the end of World
War II, several generations of antiship missiles
have emerged as an air threat to the fleet. The first
combatant ship sunk by one of these missiles was
an Israeli destroyer, hit by a Soviet-built missile
in October 1967. The threat posed by such
weapons was reconfirmed as recently as April
1988. At that time two Iranian surface combatants
fired on U.S. Navy ships and aircraft in the
Persian Gulf. The resulting exchange of antiship
missiles led to the destruction of an Iranian frigate
and corvette by U.S.-built Harpoon missiles.
Modern antiship missiles can be launched several
hundred miles away. Air, surface, and subsurface
launches can be coordinated so that the missiles
arrive on target almost simultaneously. Some
cruise missiles have both nuclear and conventional
variants.
The U.S. Navy’s defense against this threat
has continued to rely on the winning strategy of
defense in depth. Guns were replaced in the late
fifties by the first generation of guided missiles
in our ships and aircraft. These missiles continued
to perform well until the late sixties. By that time,
we realized our reaction time, firepower, and
operational availability in all environments did not
match the threat. The Navy then started a com-
prehensive engineering development program to
meet an operational requirement for an advanced
surface missile system (ASMS). ASMS was
renamed the Aegis weapons system (after the
mythological shield of Zeus) in December 1969.
Based on the latest technology—particularly
in digital computers and radar-signal process-
ing—the Aegis weapons system was designed as
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