Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cwjcc!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military
From: bucsb!brianb@husc6.harvard.edu (Brian Bresnahan)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Re: A NASTY attack sub idea
Message-ID: <7297@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 9 Jun 89 03:28:34 GMT
References: <7101@cbnews.ATT.COM> <7199@cbnews.ATT.COM>
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From: bucsb!brianb@husc6.harvard.edu (Brian Bresnahan)

>From: hplabs!ron@hpfcmgw.hp.com (Ron Miller)
>
>Re: Fighting back from below
>
>
>Actually if *I* had a helo on my back, I might consider launching a Harpoon.
>The tradeoff is that for all the fright you put into the helo driver, he
>gets back a beautiful smoke trail marking datum on the sub. (There *is* a
>Fire Control Solution that can be useful for getting someone off your back.)

Not to mention any surface ships in the area, if they are in range.

>But! A Harpoon might look at a hovering, dipping helo as if it were a ship. 
>After all, the  helo is slow and close to the surface of the water. And,
>Harpoon is an equal-opportunity missile.

I doubt that the Harpoon would even be able to acquire a Helocopter as
a target.  It is much smaller than any ships and does no have much of
a radar image near the surface.(Which is where the missile is
looking).

As soon a the pilot sees the launch of the missile he climbs for a
higher altitude. He does have a brief moment to react, and it is 
probably enough when trying to avoid a missile looking for a surface
ship.

Surface ships use helocopters with blip-enhancers as decoys for
missiles, and these are not expected to be hit so why should a 
helocopter without its blip-enhancer expect to be hit.


>
>When I was active duty, my CO's frequently wished for AA capability. I don't
>think it would be all that hard. After all, if a man can launch one, why
>not a sub?  All it takes is money :-))))
>

AA capability is not impossible on submarines, just not currently installed.

====================================
Brian Bresnahan
brianb@bucsb.bu.edu
engf0ic@BUACCA.bitnet