Future Chinese "Supersonic" submarine

[F-14D]

Now this would be a game changer if they actually pulled it off in the next decade or so

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1580226/shanghai-san-francisco-100-minutes-chinese-supersonic-submarine

 

[sferrin]

I could swear this has already been up here but for the life of me I can't find it.

 

[TomS]

I could swear this has already been up here but for the life of me I can't find it.

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,1195.msg229572.html#msg229572

 

[F-14D]

I could swear this has already been up here but for the life of me I can't find it.

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,1195.msg229572.html#msg229572

Well Whaddaya know. The story I was following that led to it was dated today, and I didn't look close enough at the ultimate source to check its date. Sorry 'bout that. I guess this thread doesn't serve any purpose

While I'm not that worried, I wouldn't completely disregard it. After all, the US didn't believe the Soviets could rework titanium (after all we couldn't), build a submarine out of that material (and the way we finally proved that they could to ourselves is a story in itself) or a supercavitating rocket torpedo---until they did.

 

[kqcke for you]

https://interestingengineering.com/military/supersonic-submarines-laser-propulsion-china

Edit: now this propulsion is said to be for sutch a submarine but im gonna be honest i have no idea how it really works.

 

[publiusr]

Captain Crane had it in the bow where it belongs

 

[Prophet141]

I've found what appears to be a basic diagram of the concept. Looking at the article you posted, they think they can get 70,000 newtons from a 2MW laser. I have no idea how well that compares to a standard propeller in terms of efficiency. I also have no idea how loud such a system would be, but given that it relies on "a detonation wave by plasma expansion" to drive the submarine forward, I can't imagine it would be silent. The article claims that because it has no moving parts it would be silent, but I seriously doubt that. Especially since a nuclear reactor would still be required to power this thing (granted, they can be very quiet these days).

The claims for the submarine being supersonic seem to come from the possibility of using the laser to generate cavitation bubbles around the submarine. I think I've seen that concept for supercavitation before, but the amount of energy they'd need to generate such a cavitation bubble seems very high (not to mention extremely loud).

This is before we consider whether this "supersonic" claim is in air or water. I'm assuming the former, since going supersonic in water seems ridiculous.

 

[Foo Fighter]

If it happened you would need more than good navigation. Any little thing in the water would be a real headache and spoil the day big time.