U.S. Navy has declared IOC or Initial Operational Capability
for Boeing’s HAAWC or High-Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapon Capability.
Its all-weather kit that will allow the P-8A maritime patrol
aircraft to launch anti-submarine torpedoes from high altitudes.
The milestone follows the award of a contract for the system to Boeing in August.
The Naval Sea Systems Command had awarded Boeing a 25.6 million “fixed-firm-price,
cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-only, full-rate production contract for the production of
High-Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapon Capability Air Launch Accessory (ALA) equipment,
related engineering and hardware repair services,
and other direct cost support,” as per Defense Department Aug. 19 contract announcement.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how HAAWC would add more teeth to US Navy’s P-8A Poseidon?
Let’s get started.
HAAWC consists of a modular Air Launch Accessory, or ALA, a kit that attaches
to a MK 54 torpedo, transforming it into a precision-guided glide weapon.
The folding-wing kit includes a flight control computer and GPS,
and it connects to a Mark 54 torpedo via collars.
After being launched, HAAWC spreads its wings and moves toward its distant objective.
When it reaches the designated target area, the wing kit releases the torpedo,
lowering it into the sea with a parachute. The Mark 54 torpedo activates once submerged
in the sea to hunt down submarines autonomously, precisely as it would
if it were launched from an aircraft or ship and delivered directly to the target.
As a result, the HAAWC concept represents a vastly increased
degree of flexibility in engagement tactics and capabilities for aerial
anti-submarine warfare platforms, especially for the P-8 Poseidon.
Additional fielding of HAAWC units are scheduled through 2024, with the
potential for production to continue into 2030 under the current contract.
Dewayne Donley, the program manager said, “The initial operational capability
milestone marks the readiness of HAAWC for fleet introduction for the Navy and
its international partners. We’re excited to deliver greater flexibility and capability
by way of higher-altitude launches from longer distances than previously possible.”
Bob Ciesla, vice president of Boeing Weapons said,
“It’s a major achievement for our team in reaching our goal of establishing a
new high ground in anti-submarine warfare. We look forward to continuing to work alongside
the Navy toward the full deployment and operational capability of the system.”
HAAWC will enable the US Navy P-8s to undertake
anti-submarine warfare at greater heights and ranges.
Dewayne Donley said, “Our solution transforms
the MK 54 into a precision glide weapon in GPS-aided and GPS-denied environments.
The HAAWC system provides flexibility by allowing the Navy to carry out
anti-submarine operations throughout the full flight envelope of the P-8A.”
Without the HAAWC kit, a Mark 54 Torpedo must be dropped from an aircraft at a low altitude.
The Mark 54 was co-developed by Raytheon Integrated Defense
Systems and the U.S. Navy under the U.S. Navy's Lightweight Hybrid Torpedo program.
It has a range of 9 km or 5.6 miles and a maximum speed of 74 km/h or 46.0 mph.
Viewers may note that the P8, which costs about £330 or $430 million, is one of the
most sophisticated submarine-hunting and warship-tracking planes in the world.
P-8 Poseidon is developed by Boeing & is modified from the 737-800ERX.
It is capable of anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASUW),
and shipping interdiction. It also has early warning self-protection (EWSP) ability.
It is able to reach a maximum speed of 563 mph or 907 kph and has a combat radius of
1,380 miles or 2,222 km which enables it to cover large swaths of the ocean.
P-8 is equipped with AN/APY-10 radar which is installed on the enlarged nose fairing.
The AN/APY-10 radar provides the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) mode capability for imaging,
detection, classification and identification of stationary ships and small vessels and for
coastal and overland surveillance, as well as the high-resolution imaging synthetic
aperture radar (ISAR) mode for imaging, detection, classification and tracking of
surfaced submarines and small, fast-moving vessels that operate in coastal waters.
P-8 is fitted with the CAE advanced integrated magnetic anomaly detection (MAD) system.
It is also able to drop and monitor sonobuoys which are basically expendable sonar systems.
America’s potential adversaries are deploying
anti-access/area-denial measures and this makes HAAWC crucial.
HAAWC also enables the P-8 and other ASW aircraft to pursue subsurface
targets without risking coming into contact with any anti-air defenses
that might be deployed in the vicinity of the submarine or submarine operational area.
With HAAWC, P-8 will no longer have to expose itself by flying ‘low and slow’,
a vulnerable position for any combat aircraft.
It will also enable P-8 to launch torpedoes whenever necessary without
even tracking the enemy submarine itself since with HAAWC it would be able to get
target coordinates from various sources like friendly ships, helicopters, and submarines.
Some speculations indicate that HAAWC system might be modified for use by shore-based launchers,
offering a versatile and relatively inexpensive coastal defense against sneaking submarines.
In that way, the US could put enemy submarines at risk throughout the coastline by adopting HAAWC
without having to field swarms of aircraft or patrol ships equipped with torpedoes.
It is evident that HAAWC is a great bit of kit that has a lot of potentials.