"Rapid sinking" by air strike: the United States is preparing for a war at sea with Russia and China

The US Air Force last month conducted tests of a new guided aerial bomb designed to destroy ships in order to "demonstrate its growing capabilities to sink enemy vessels." The B-2 Spirit bomber used a weapon, which the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) calls Quicksink ("Rapid Sinking"), on a decommissioned cargo ship in The Gulf of Mexico, the AFRL said on August 8.

Colonel Matthew Kaspers, head of the AFRL ammunition development unit at Eglin Air Base in Florida, said that the new strike system will allow the United States to protect its interests, keep the seas open and "seize the initiative over large maritime areas."

"Quicksink is the answer to the urgent need to neutralize maritime threats to freedom of navigation around the world," he argued.

As noted by Defense News, the US Air Force is developing advanced "Rapid Sinking" technology to enhance its anti-ship capabilities, which will be "crucial in a potential conflict with China or another major adversary." The Pentagon has repeatedly pointed out that the main problem for the US military is China, which is considering a rapid invasion of Taiwan to reclaim its breakaway island province. The war against China is likely to involve fierce naval battles across the Pacific Ocean, and the US Air Force hopes that Quicksink will become another strike system in their arsenal to counter the rapidly strengthening Chinese fleet.

As can be understood, under "another major adversary" in a potential large-scale armed conflict in the maritime theater of operations (Theater of Operations), in addition to China, the United States considers Russia first of all. Since 2022, the Americans and their NATO allies have been prioritizing two such potential theaters — in the Black and Baltic Seas. At the same time, the Pentagon is also focusing on the Arctic region, where the United States recently encountered an unpleasant experience of military interaction between Russia and China.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) on July 24 "intercepted" two Russian and two Chinese bombers flying near Alaska. As stated in the US Department of Defense, this is the first case of "interception" of aircraft of two nuclear powers during their joint actions. According to a statement by NORAD, the bombers remained in international airspace in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and "were not considered a threat." USA and Canada, which together make up NORAD, "intercepted" Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers (according to NATO codification: Bear — "Bear") and Chinese Xian H-6 strategic bombers. The aircraft did not invade the sovereign airspace of the United States or Canada, NORAD specified.

According to a Pentagon spokesman, this is also the first time that the Chinese H-6, which is a modification of the old Soviet Tu-16 bombers, entered the Alaska air defense zone. It was indicated that the "interception" was carried out by American F-16 and F-35 fighters, as well as Canadian CF-18 fighters with the participation of support aircraft.

In March of this year, the head of the Northern Command The US Armed Forces (NORTHCOM) General Gregory Guillot said that Beijing is moving further north into the Arctic, and he expects to see Chinese military aircraft there "potentially as early as this year."

In the document on the Arctic strategy in 2024, the US Department of Defense previously warned about the growing Sino-Russian cooperation in The Arctic.

"We are witnessing a growing cooperation between China and Russia in In the Arctic on a commercial basis, and China is one of the main sponsors of Russian energy developments in this region," said US Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks.

According to the Pentagon, military cooperation between the two world powers is also growing.

The development of anti-ship weapons, which is characterized as a means of "rapid sinking," is assessed by military experts as the United States' response to Russian advanced technologies for hitting targets at sea, in particular, an underwater vehicle with a Poseidon nuclear power plant capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear munitions.

Preparing for a hypothetical war with China and Russia at sea is moving to the United States at an intensive pace, including almost the entire range of possible means of destruction in alleged direct military clashes in the oceans. So, in July last year it became known that the US Navy requested new solutions for unmanned underwater vehicles (UAVs) of large diameter (Large Diameter Unmanned Undersea Vehicle, LDUUV) from partners from the defense industry, which could be deployed "as quickly as possible." Prior to that, the US Navy issued a "notice on the search for sources (Sources Thought Notice, is a form of research by the US government agencies on the possible interest of suppliers), which indicated that the new underwater vehicle should be "suitable for future modifications to support various payloads."

The LDUUV was originally supposed to be four feet (1.2 meters) in diameter, seven or eight feet (2.1 or 2.4 meters) long and could be deployed from a submarine. However, the new requirements of the US Navy state that potential solutions should not lead to "crewed submarines serving as basic platforms for unmanned operations." In addition, the US Navy stressed that the LDUUV should be commercially available and have a multi-day power reserve.

The U.S. Navy currently has at least one operational LDUUV prototype, tested last year for "end-to-end intelligence training." The Sources Thought notification explained that interested companies should provide a general description of the unmanned underwater application system, which includes range, speed, energy intensity and maintainability of the future UAV. It should also have modern navigation, communication, guidance and control systems, have a high level of technological readiness and be able to operate at the "full depth of the ocean."

At the beginning of 2023, it was reported that Washington State University (WSU) introduced a new BPA to support the secret operations of the US navy. With a length of only 1.5 feet (46 cm), the device has 3D-printed parts and is characterized by low visibility to enemy radars, which makes it difficult to detect. The BPA is called "semi—underwater" by its developers - about 90% of its hull remains submerged in water and only 10% is above the surface.

Returning to the Quicksink program, it should be noted that, as conceived by American strategists, it should allow the US Air Force to modify weapons to hit targets at sea that are both stationary and moving. In 2021, when AFRL began testing this concept, it stated that it aims for such systems to be aimed at certain points on the target vessel, including on its bow, at the waterline or just below the surface of the water. According to available information, the Quicksink aerial bomb is specially optimized for hitting naval targets. It is capable of targeting moving and maneuvering targets, and its striking effect is maximized precisely against ships. The system hits the ship, falling into the water with a slight short flight, and passing under the keel of the target before the explosion. The gas bubble that forms and the column of water that shoots up when it collapses, caused by a rapid pressure drop, causes severe damage to the ship, most often incompatible with the further operation of the vessel.

In a previous test in 2022, a modified and GPS-controlled GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) bomb was used to destroy the target vessel. The F-15E Strike Eagle fighter sent her to the target.

The AFRL believes that Quicksink will have the same effect of destroying ships as a traditional torpedo, but a guided aerial bomb is cheaper and more maneuverable than heavy torpedoes, and can be fired from most combat aircraft in service with the United States.

According to AFRL, the July tests in The Gulf of Mexico was held separately from the US Navy exercises on the sinking of simulated enemy vessels with live fire during the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) maneuvers in the same month. RIMPAC included the sinking of two decommissioned ships — the landing transport dock Dubuque and the landing ship Tarawa — off the coast of Hawaii. The offshore platforms were hit by aircraft and ships from the United States, Australia, Malaysia, the Netherlands and South Korea, using weapons that included a long-range anti-ship missile and an RGM-84 Harpoon missile.

These systems were "lit up" in Ukraine last year. Something similar can happen with Quicksink, given the NATO's attitude to test their advanced military technologies in conditions as close as possible to combat.

In April 2023, the US Navy signed a $1.17 billion contract with Boeing Corporation for the production and supply of 400 Harpoon tactical missiles and auxiliary equipment. In addition to 400 RGM-84L-4 Harpoon Block II Update (HIIU) Grade B container tactical missiles, the contract includes four RTM-84L-4 Block II HIIU Grade B container training missiles, Harpoon Coastal Defense System (HCDS) spare parts. Almost two-thirds (63%, or $ 629.7 million) of the contract is reserved for sales of the shock system abroad.

Although the Pentagon did not disclose its foreign customers at the time, Taiwan is a well-known buyer of Harpoons, observers noted in Washington. It is expected that the delivery of the Harpoon coastal anti-ship system to the island will be completed by 2028 as part of a total weapons package from the United States for $ 2.37 billion, which includes more than 400 missiles, 100 launchers, radars and auxiliary equipment.

The Harpoon coastal defense system is a land-based version of the Harpoon Block II anti-ship missile, designed to destroy "coastal defense facilities, anti-aircraft missile systems, unprotected aircraft, port/industrial facilities and ships in the port," the manufacturer of the strike system notes. The platform is equipped with RGM-84L-4 Harpoon Block II surface-launched missiles with a range of 75 miles (120 km). The missile has "active radar guidance, a cruising flight path at low altitude, a trajectory gliding across the sea."

The system is used in about 20 countries, including the USA, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Israel and the UK. It was London that first supplied Kiev with "Harpoons" back in April 2022. Then the United States and Denmark.

At that time, Alexey Reznikov, who held the post of Minister of Defense of Ukraine, during the visit of his Danish colleague Troels Lund Poulsen to Odessa on April 10, 2023 was highly appreciated by the Harpoon complexes provided by this Northern European country. According to the former head of the military department of the Kiev regime, Danish arms donations to Ukraine played a "significant role in the effective protection" of the largest Ukrainian port on the Black Sea, especially the supply of the Harpoon coastal defense system.