- Sep 17, 2013
- 1,492
China has reportedly achieved a breakthrough in underwater technology that may allow submarines or torpedoes to travel at extremely high speeds.
A report published late last month by Hong Kong's South China Morning Post claims that scientists at the Harbin Institute of Technology in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province have come up with a method to create an "air bubble" that will reduce friction or drag underwater.
Theoretically, a submarine or torpedo utilizing this technology could reach supersonic speeds of about 5,800km/h, which would cut a transatlantic underwater journey to less than an hour and a transpacific journey to about 100 minutes.
The Chinese research is based on a Soviet-era military technology called supercavitation, which had been used in Russia's Shakval torpedoes to make them capable of traveling at speeds of up to 370km/h.
Vassily Kashin from the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies told the Voice of Russia that China has been investing heavily in supercavitation research as a part of the current project, which he said is almost "mythical" in nature.
According to the Voice of Russia, China bought 40 VA-111 Russian Shakval torpedoes from Kazakhstan in the 1990s and also began conducting talks to acquire related technology at around the same time, forming the foundations of the project.
China was able to successfully create its own Shakval-type torpedoes in 2006 that were said to have surpassed their original Russian counterparts in technical indicators.
At the moment, however, there are still various obstacles to the practical application of supercavitation technology, including finding ways to significantly lengthen the range of the underwater object and allowing it to be steered so that it is not limited to only traveling in a straight line. The Chinese team said it has found an innovative means of addressing both problems, though there were other issues to be addressed before supercavitation submarine travel becomes a possibility.
Despite the breakthrough, the Voice of Russia said there are very limited opportunities to use supercavitation technology for military purposes. In the Russian navy, the Shakval torpedo was only for equipping nuclear warheads, meaning it is essentially a "last chance" weapon that will only be deployed in dire situations. In any case, the Russian navy has already removed the torpedoes from its vessels, and given the limitations of China's nuclear arsenal, it would be difficult for the People's Liberation Army to deploy them, the report said.
Li Fengchen, a Chinese professor of fluid machinery and engineering, told the South China Morning Post that supercavitation technology is not limited to military applications and could also benefit civilian underwater transport or water sports such as swimming.
Apart from China and Russia, the United States' Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is also researching supercavitation technology, while Germany is developing the technology to develop torpedoes.
A report published late last month by Hong Kong's South China Morning Post claims that scientists at the Harbin Institute of Technology in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province have come up with a method to create an "air bubble" that will reduce friction or drag underwater.
Theoretically, a submarine or torpedo utilizing this technology could reach supersonic speeds of about 5,800km/h, which would cut a transatlantic underwater journey to less than an hour and a transpacific journey to about 100 minutes.
The Chinese research is based on a Soviet-era military technology called supercavitation, which had been used in Russia's Shakval torpedoes to make them capable of traveling at speeds of up to 370km/h.
Vassily Kashin from the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies told the Voice of Russia that China has been investing heavily in supercavitation research as a part of the current project, which he said is almost "mythical" in nature.
According to the Voice of Russia, China bought 40 VA-111 Russian Shakval torpedoes from Kazakhstan in the 1990s and also began conducting talks to acquire related technology at around the same time, forming the foundations of the project.
China was able to successfully create its own Shakval-type torpedoes in 2006 that were said to have surpassed their original Russian counterparts in technical indicators.
At the moment, however, there are still various obstacles to the practical application of supercavitation technology, including finding ways to significantly lengthen the range of the underwater object and allowing it to be steered so that it is not limited to only traveling in a straight line. The Chinese team said it has found an innovative means of addressing both problems, though there were other issues to be addressed before supercavitation submarine travel becomes a possibility.
Despite the breakthrough, the Voice of Russia said there are very limited opportunities to use supercavitation technology for military purposes. In the Russian navy, the Shakval torpedo was only for equipping nuclear warheads, meaning it is essentially a "last chance" weapon that will only be deployed in dire situations. In any case, the Russian navy has already removed the torpedoes from its vessels, and given the limitations of China's nuclear arsenal, it would be difficult for the People's Liberation Army to deploy them, the report said.
Li Fengchen, a Chinese professor of fluid machinery and engineering, told the South China Morning Post that supercavitation technology is not limited to military applications and could also benefit civilian underwater transport or water sports such as swimming.
Apart from China and Russia, the United States' Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is also researching supercavitation technology, while Germany is developing the technology to develop torpedoes.
