Does VLS also mean that sub-hunting aircraft / helos become vulnerable to pop-ups ??
The German IDAS system is torpedo launched.
But dipping helos are far more vulnerable than MPA, which may follow the P-8 trend of staying up high.
The ideal counter, and nightmare, for a dipping helo is something like the Aerovironment Blackwing UAS. It's been developed for the USN and is essentially a Switchblade 300 that is dispensed via the Subs existing countermeasure tubes. It's role is for recon....but imagine a Switchblade with the ability to search for a helo target using AI visual recognistion via the existing EO/IR sensor...
As soon as you hear a diping helo in close, drop a Blackwing out and off you go...the helo will either get killed or have to disengage to run from the Blackwing.