General Atomics has announced that it had successfully flight-tested a dispenser pod
for the MQ-9B SeaGuardian drone.
It is part of a larger plan to enhance the anti-submarine warfare capabilities of the
platform.
As per reports, in this particular test, the pods were used to release sonobuoys.
Sonobuoys are basically expendable sonar systems that could be used to detect submarines.
The company also stated that the dispenser pod will also be able to launch precision-guided
munitions as well as small drones.
The anti-submarine warfare test took place last November and was conducted in cooperation
with the U.S. Navy
The experiment involved flying the drone in US Navy's test ranges off the coast of Southern
California and transmitting data to a ground operations center of the U.S. Army's Yuma
Proving Ground in Arizona.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how MQ-9B SeaGuardian drone will take on Russian
& Chinese submarines?
Let's get started.
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Russia has worked to enhance its naval capabilities since 2000.
The latest variant of the Russian Kilo-class submarine represents a significant evolution.
It was demonstrated in 2017 when out of the blue, a series of cruise missiles tore through
the air towards targets around Syria’s besieged city of Palmyra.
They came from the Kilo-class submarine Krasnodar which remained undetected before the missile
launch.
Krasnodar was dubbed as Black Hole by some analysts.
The Russians are also building two other new designs - Borei class ballistic missile submarines
which will be the cornerstone and most survivable part of its nuclear arsenal and the hunter-killer
Yasen class, intended to destroy US aircraft carriers.
Importantly, the activities of the Russian submarine fleet has increased several folds
in the last few years.
The Chinese military has seen a lot of investments in the last two decades and its People's Liberation
Army Navy or PLAN has got a significant portion of it.
PLAN has a fleet of conventionally powered as well as nuclear powered submarines.
There are about 3 Nuclear-powered attack submarines of Type 091 Han class and 6 of Type 093 Shang-class
in active service.
The conventionally powered submarines consist of 17 Yuan-Class, 12 Russian origin Kilo-class,
13 Song-Class & 15 Ming-Class.
Also, new submarines are being constantly constructed.
China's policy has meant that it is now using this fleet in a more aggressive manner.
During the test, the MQ-9A which was used in place of MQ-9B deployed 10 sonobuoys, in
total.
These included one AN/SSQ-36B, two AN/SSQ-62F Directional Command Activated Sonobuoy Systems
(DICASS), and seven AN/SSQ-53G Directional Frequency Analysis and Recording (DIFAR) buoys.
The AN/SSQ-36B can detect underwater objects by changes in water temperature.
The DICASS is equipped with active sonar whereas the DIFAR can passively gather acoustic data.
Technically, the deployed sonobuoys have a significant capability and could potentially
uncover enemy submarines lurking in the depths of the oceans.
General Atomics-ASI President David R. Alexander said “This demonstration is a first for
airborne ASW, the successful completion of this testing paves the way for the future
development of more Anti-Submarine Warfare capabilities from our MQ-9s.”
P-8 is the premier anti-submarine warfare (ASW) platform of the US Navy
Apart from ASW, it is capable of anti-surface warfare (ASUW), and shipping interdiction.
The P-8 Poseidon is developed by Boeing & is modified from the 737-800ERX.
Powered by 2 × CFM56-7B27A engines it is able to reach a maximum speed of 490 knots
or 907 km/h and has a combat radius of 1380 miles or 2,222 km that enables it to cover
large swaths of ocean.
The P-8 is equipped with radar, optical and sonar sensors to detect submarines & surface
ships.
P-8 has 5 internal and 6 external stations for weapons and currently deploy AGM-84H/K
SLAM-ER, AGM-84 Harpoon, Mark 54 torpedo, unguided missiles, mines and smart as well
as free-fall bombs.
P-8A is the American variant and the U.S has
received delivery of more than 90 of these with approximately an additional 30 on order.
With the increasing threat of Russian & Chinese submarines, the workload on P-8A is bound
to increase.
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle
or UAV capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations.
The MQ-9 is the first hunter-killer UAV designed for long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance
Reaper’s main sensor is the nose-mounted MTS-B multi-spectral surveillance and targeting
turret and its fuselage-mounted Lynx synthetic aperture radar.
But Reaper’s pylons are very versatile and can be used to carry a variety of tactical
equipment like communications relay hops, electronic warfare pods as well as Wide Area
Aerial Surveillance (WAAS) camera arrays.
The additional sensors are designed to act in conjunction with the drone’s main sensors.
A navalized Reaper was proposed for the U.S. Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS)
program
General Atomics continued with the Naval Reaper concept, turning it into the SeaGuardian.
It has an endurance of more than 18 hours and can mount an eight-hour patrol at a radius
of 1,400 mi or 2,200 km.
A key part of its mission set is the Leonardo Seaspray 7500E V2 AESA radar mounted as a
centerline pod with inverse synthetic aperture radar that can spot surface targets including
ships, submarine periscopes, and people during search and rescue operations.
MQ-9B SeaGuardian equipped with sonobuoys will go a long way in easing the burden on
P-8As which are manned aircraft.
The platform will also be much more cost-effective as the cost per hour of flight is significantly
less.
As of now, it is unclear the exact types of munitions & small drones General Atomics plans
to integrate with the MQ-9B SeaGuardian drone through the dispenser pod.
But since the dispenser pod is compatible with the Common Launch Tube (CLT), it opens
up a lot of possibilities.
When it comes to munitions, Dynetics GBU-69/B Small Glide Munition (SGM) could be used.
As for small drones, Raytheon's Coyote is one of the options.
MQ-9B SeaGuardian could evolve into a platform that can detect and even take out enemy submarines
and this has massive ramifications when it comes to boasting American Anti Submarine
Warfare capability.