Anti-submarine grenade launcher demo onboard Swedish FAC HMS Styrbjörn

Demo of the SAAB Dynamics ASW-601 antisubmarine grenade launcher, a train and tilt version of the fixed mounted ASW-600 system, designed for littoral and greenwater antisubmarine operations. The video was shot onboard the Kaparen class Fast Attack Craft HMS Styrbjörn in the summer of 1996 outside the Berga / Muskö naval base in the southern Stockholm archipelago.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• ASW
• Royal Swedish Navy
• HMS Styrbjörn
• Kaparen class
• FPB
• fast patrol boat
• littoral warfare
• greenwater warfare
• submarine
• hull mounted sonar
• variable depth sonar
• fast attack craft
• antisubmarine
• patrullbåt
• anti-submarine
• Cheonan
• sinking
• South Korea
• mortar
• military

[centurion180ad]

A patrol craft cutting holes in the water with its prop, thinks it is going to get within 1/2 kilometer of a diesel-electric submarine?

I have some bad news for the boatmen, Whisky class SS are retired.

Torpedoes are faster than patrol craft, are able to maneuver independently of the launching craft after being fired, and have a range of some 10 nautical miles.

A torpedo moves across that 450 meter range of this grenade system, in 15 seconds.

This system is all but pointless.

[swedegamer]

@centurion180ad ASW-torpedoes fired at a target very close to the launching vessel pose a risk to the own vessel as well as friendly units nearby, while this system does not. In short, the antisubmarine mortar covers the gap where the distance to the target is too short for an ASW-torpedo.

[centurion180ad]

@swedegamer If a surface vessel is so close to a SS that it can't afford to fire a deck launched TT, then that surface vessel is ALREADY as good as dead. 450 meters is covered by an antiship torpedo in 15 seconds or less.

AFAIK advanced light weight torpedoes possess an activation distance inside wich it will not begin to home, and a DEPTH gague so that it will not attack a surface target such as its own launching vessel.

[swedegamer]

@centurion180ad The system was built as a response to the Soviet/Russian submaribe incursions in Swedish terrotiroal waters in the 80's and 90's. The Baltic sea is by far the most difficult ASW-environment, and no other Navy but the Scandinavian even attempts to detect submarines in an archipelago. As a consequence the detection ranges are very short, sometimes point blank range. Under those conditions, a quicker response system than an ASW-torpedo is necessary as a supplement.

[bordeauxjean]

thats why u dont fuck with vikings...

[swedegamer]

@flexi712 The ASW torpedo have a longer range and a higher payload, but it needs a certain volume of water to operate in. The ASW-600/601 is insensitive to extreme littoral conditions, such as water depth less than 60 meters, rock formations on the sea floor, civilian ships nearby etc. In short, if the sub hunter operates in an area with very short detections ranges, the grenade may be preferable to the torpedo just like a hand grenade may be better in house-to combat than an anti-tank missile.

[centurion180ad]

@swedegamer I agree that littoral conditons are difficult.

[AdurianJ]

@centurion180ad

Torpedoes can't always find the target properly in the islands among the swedish archipelago. The regular ASW torpedoes where useless in those areas.

[centurion180ad]

@swedegamer A DC large enough to destroy a SSK, is //more// deadly against a midget in less than 100 meters of water depth, because the pressure wave will bounce off the floor and lift the midget from underneath.

Best way to go here is with an active HF dipping sonar off a helo to maintain contact.

[swedegamer]

@centurion180ad A depth charge is more or less useless against a midget submarine, at least if the hull is welded titanium. "Hedged in" by littoral conditions work to a midget submarine's advantage, its the most difficult environment imaginable for ASW-forces to detect a target and offer the best hiding conditions for a sub. Hence the short ranges.

[Carnuss]

The attack depth isn't very deep!

[centurion180ad]

@historylover54 Cost basis?

How expensive are the sailors that are going to get blown to bits if they ever have to deploy this system in combat?

An antiship torpedo covers the range of this system in 15 seconds, less if the patrol craft is charging at a submarine in question.

This system is a widow maker.

[centurion180ad]

@swedegamer If a submarine is //that// hedged in by littoral conditions (all but run aground stuck in the mud), then a conventional DC which may also be airdropped, is the way to go.

This system is nonsense.