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Gabriel Dominguez

As China expands its submarine fleet, the US Navy is looking to develop a compact air-launched torpedo that could enable more crewed and uncrewed aircraft to attack submarines from farther away.
The US Naval Air Systems Command issued a request for information – a step towards development – to industry in late August for the Silent Anvil Air-Launched Torpedo (SAA-LT).
While air-launching a torpedo from stand-off range is not new – the US Navy already has the High Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapon Capability (HAAWC) – the SAA-LT would be much smaller.
HAAWC adds a glide kit to a Mark 54 lightweight torpedo and can be launched by P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft from altitudes of up to 30,000 feet (9,140 metres).
According to the request for information, the navy wants the new weapon to weigh up to 268lbs (122kg) while measuring up to 70 inches (178cm) long and 7.5 inches (19cm) in diameter – dimensions intended to broaden the range of aircraft that could carry it.




The requirements also envisage that Silent Anvil would be compatible with aircraft carrier storage and handling systems, potentially allowing carrier-based platforms to field the weapon.
The US Navy said it was considering two approaches: a new integrated weapon designed to glide into the water before homing acoustically on its target, or a glide kit fitted to an existing torpedo.
The glide system could receive targeting updates during flight, helping it to release the torpedo closer to the submarine’s expected location. Once in the water, the torpedo would use its own acoustic sensor to find and attack the target.
The document does not mention China, nor does it name any potential adversary. But it comes as Beijing expands and modernises its submarine fleet amid intensifying US-China military competition in the western Pacific.
Peter Jones, a retired Royal Australian Navy vice-admiral and an adjunct professor with the Naval Studies Group at UNSW Canberra, said Silent Anvil could potentially enable many more crewed and uncrewed aircraft to serve as delivery platforms for weapons.
“The overall effect will be a more responsive anti-submarine capability,” Jones said. “For an adversary submariner, it means that any air platform could be a weapon carrier.”
But Jones said the Silent Anvil’s usefulness would also depend on whether the weapon could be produced cheaply enough to be widely deployed, while the aircraft carrying it would still rely on air, surface and underwater systems to find submarines.
Lyle Goldstein, director of Asia engagement at the Washington think tank Defence Priorities, said spreading the mission across more platforms could be particularly valuable because specialised US anti-submarine warfare aircraft such as the P-8 were few in number.
Large, slow anti-submarine warfare aircraft could struggle to operate in the vast and highly contested airspace of the Asia-Pacific, potentially increasing the value of drones operating from “very remote locations under austere conditions”, he added.


While separating detection platforms from those that attack submarines could make better use of resources, it could also complicate operations, Goldstein observed, citing the enormous distances involved, attempts to jam communications and attacks on logistics nodes.
James Holmes, a professor of maritime strategy at the US Naval War College who was speaking in a personal capacity, said that while the Silent Anvil concept “shows a lot of promise”, its effectiveness would have to be shown in practice.
“The difficulty here is ensuring connectivity among elements of the force,” Holmes said, especially as China’s “systems destruction warfare” concept involved disrupting the networks that allowed an adversary’s forces to operate together, including through electronic warfare.
The push to broaden US options for attacking submarines comes as Beijing rapidly builds up its undersea fleet.
Rear Admiral Mike Brookes, head of the US Office of Naval Intelligence, told a congressional commission in March that China could have up to 80 submarines by 2035, roughly half of them nuclear-powered – a major shift for a force that has historically relied heavily on conventionally powered boats.
The build-up is not only about numbers. China is also developing new submarine designs.
The South China Morning Post reported in July that satellite imagery and expert analysis indicated a previously unidentified attack submarine at Shanghai’s Jiangnan Shipyard. Its propulsion type remains uncertain.
Meanwhile, another next-generation nuclear-powered design has been spotted at Bohai Shipyard in Liaoning province, northeast China.
According to Goldstein, China’s newer nuclear-powered attack submarines could pose a growing challenge by operating farther into the central and eastern Pacific. “As this challenge grows, the US will be forced to devote more effort to the anti-submarine threat.”




Holmes observed that the undersea competition could increasingly resemble the Cold War rivalry between the navies of the US and the then Soviet Union, particularly in relation to a potential conflict involving Taiwan.
He compared the first island chain – an arc of islands from Japan through Taiwan to the Philippines that underpins the US security strategy in the region – to the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap, a key Cold War passage for Soviet submarines entering the Atlantic.
Holmes described both as geographic barriers to a wider ocean. “We are back to the future,” he said.
According to Holmes, the Luzon Strait and the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan are obvious routes for People’s Liberation Army Navy submarines seeking access to the western Pacific.
The depth and underwater conditions of these waterways would make them difficult places for submarine hunters, while frequent rough weather could further complicate operations above the surface, he said.
If successfully developed, Silent Anvil would be “highly relevant” in such a scenario, in his view. “Any system that would help seal up the PLA Navy’s access to the western Pacific would help the US and its allies stiffen a ‘denial defence’,” Holmes said.
Goldstein said he expected the US Navy to be closely coordinating potential anti-submarine operations with Australia and especially Japan, including through sharing technology and tactics.
Any conflict could require large stocks of anti-submarine weapons at forward bases in those countries, he said, but those bases and logistics nodes could be vulnerable to Chinese missile and drone strikes.
Companies have until September 29 to respond to the request, which calls for a complete system demonstration within 18 months of a development agreement, followed by production of about 180 prototype weapons over the following three years.


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The weapon is expected to be air-launched and suitable for use across a range of platforms


The weapon is expected to be air-launched and suitable for use across a range of platforms.


US Navy plans compact Silent Anvil torpedo as China’s submarine fleet surges

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The weapon is expected to be air-launched and suitable for use across a range of platforms

The weapon is expected to be air-launched and suitable for use across a range of platforms