Navy Cancels Project To Develop Anti-Torpedo Defense System For Aircraft Carriers

The U.S. Navy has cancelled a previously classified project to develop an anti-torpedo defense system for aircraft carriers, reports Business Insider.

The five-year, $760 million program was suspended in September after it failed to make progress in testing and demonstrate sufficient reliability, according to a Pentagon report issued on Tuesday.

Sensors and interceptor torpedoes performed poorly during trials, noted the War Zone website. The system failed to show rapid enough progress after more than five years of development.

The Anti-Torpedo Torpedo Defense System (ATTDS) consists of a torpedo warning system and the Countermeasure Anti-Torpedo (CAT). The warning system consists of a towed acoustic sensor that is deployed behind the ship to detect, classify and provide targeting data on potential threats.

The CAT is a torpedo-like hard-kill interceptor that is designed to hone in on the threat and destroy it by smashing into it or with its explosive warhead.

The Navy plans to remove the system and restore five aircraft carriers to their normal configurations during maintenance periods over the next four years, the report said.

At the end of the Cold War, the Navy shifted its primary focus from anti-submarine warfare to the fight against surface ships. The Navy has raised concerns that the move has left its ships with little defense against modern torpedo threats.

Russia, China and Iran reportedly have supercavitating torpedoes, which form a bubble of air around themselves allowing them to move through the water at hundreds of miles per hour. U.S. aircraft carriers have little chance of detecting, evading or destroying this class of torpedoes.