QUICKSINK—Guided Anti-Ship Bomb

SCANALYZER The Happening World
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This is a test of QUICKSINK on 2022-04-28 against a full-sized ship in the Gulf of Mexico (silent video).

QUICKSINK is a guidance system developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory which can be installed on a 2000 pound (910 kg) bomb equipped with a Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit. It uses an optical seeker that directs the bomb to penetrate the water at an oblique angle and explode beneath the keel of the ship, breaking its back. Damage is estimated as comparable to that of a heavy submarine-launched torpedo such as the Mark 48 ADCAP torpedo and Naval Strike Missile, both of which cost between US$2 and 4 million per shot. A JDAM bomb with QUICKSINK may cost less than US$50,000 (a JDAM kit costs about US$25,000). Here are additional views of the test, also silent, including from a camera on the target ship and a model of the wreckage on the bottom.

Here is an article from Avacionline, “QUICKSINK, the «retro» revolution in naval air warfare”.

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The scenario in the first video is absurd. The containerized missile would have launched before the patrol aircraft could have communicated the threat.

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Depends on the quality of the targeting and if the missile needs fueling. A missile built by the US would indeed be quick to launch (likely solid fuel and GPS targeting), but by (for instance) NK?

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Two Rules of Airpower:
i) EVERYBODY wants it.
ii) there’s never enough of it.

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