8/11/2019 VSX Sub Killer

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V S X : S u b k i l l e r fo r t h e U S N

N A FEW W EE K S ' T I M E the US N avy will anno unc e thewinner of its design competition for a carrier-borne antisubmar ine war fa re ae rop lane . VSX, to rep lace the Grum

man S -2 T racker. T ried and well-proved as the T racker is ,cont inuo us improvem ent in submarine design increasingspeeds, ranges, operat ing depths, bet ter armament and counter-measuresall these have begun to make this 1954 designincreasingly less effective. Apart from these factors the T rack eris a piston-engined aircraft and in conjunction with turbine-engined aeroplanes requires extra space in the carrier for thestorage of inflammable high-octane fuel.

T he sub marin e threat is a t least as great as any other hazardto national well-being. America is acutely conscious of the400-plus Russian submarines, many of which are equippedwith Polaris-type intermediate-range ballistic missiles. Providing an adequate counter is one of the most difficult technicalproblems of warfare today, and the USN began to considernew ASW designs as long ago as 1962-63. At that time ASWeffort was generally in a minor key an d it was not until 1967that the VS X program me got under way. In N ovem ber ofthat year f ive f i rmsD ouglas, Gr um ma n, M cDo nnell , Lockh e e d / LT V a n d G Dwere selected for study contracts.

If the problems were difficult, the rewards were correspondingly high. T he ent i re program me wil l be worth somew herebetween $2 thousand million and $3 thousand million, ofwhich a substantial sum will go tow ard s carrier m odification.I t is expected th at the US N will order between 150 and 300S As (as the project is now known) at a unit cost of someS3 miillion-$4 millio n. T he valu e of the aircraft desig n, development and product ion contract wil l probably be well over$1 thousand mil l ion. ,

T wo f i rms, G D and L ockheed, were selected last August topursue contract def ini t ion s tudies worth about $19 mil l ion,and an artists ' impression of the G D subm ission is illustratedabove. T his part icu lar design is believed to be fair ly typicalof others which hav e been subm it ted, is s imilar in shape tothe Do ugl as A-3 Skyw arrior, and ap proxim ates in size to theT rack er. T he m oderately swept wing (there is no v.g.) a l lowsa cruis ing speed of abo ut M ach 0.7, but , a t the same t ime

(with high-l i f t devices) enables good approach and take-oftperform ance. T wo engines are housed in under-wing pods, and

a frameless cabin allows an excellent view for AS W woa crew of four: pi lot , co-pi lot , and two ASW operato

T he S-3A will be opera ted from five Essex class aircrcarriers. Four of these will at any time be on stationfifth b eing in dock for refit. It is pr ob ab le tha t these cwill be station ed in the Pacific. T he gradu al w ithd raw

American bases in this area, both voluntary and as the of inte rnati onal pressures (the Bonin Isla nds, which inIwo Jima, were returned to Japan last year, and the me nt with Oki naw a term inate s in 1970) thr ow s incremph asis on seaborne patrol s . T he huge area and dicalls for long range and a performance greatly in advanits pis ton-engined predecessor. T he S-3A wil l have an tional radius of about 1,000 milesthree times that oT racke ra nd will be able to cruise to the patro l ar30,000ft-40,000ft (compared with 6,000ft-7,000ft of thethereby ensuring greater crew comfort and efficiency.

Optimisat ion of engine parameters for ASW is extrimp ortant . T he Gene ral Electr ic T F34-2 was selected orival, the P&W T F3 2, in April last year, and the first wil l run this summe r. T he T F34-2 is a twin-spool , high-ratio turhofan of about 9,0001b thrust, designed to give athrust/weight ratio and low s.f.c.

T he S-3A wil l com plem ent the Orion in protect ing theIts avionics system will be comparable with that olarger aircraft , but wil l be miniatur ised. As with the N imro d, the emph asis is on a mu ch greater degree of mation in data processing. T wo factors account for thisthe automatic rout ings of information from the variou sso rs : sonobuoy. radar, fume de tec t ion and EC M , and sethe provision of a computerised display system in whicvarious inputs can be wei ghe d to provid e the mo st profix and t rack . T hese techniqu es considerably off- load th ewhich is thus able to give more time to the assessment oand the planning of the at tack.

T he develop men t schedule cal ls for the com plet ioconcept-defini t ion s tudies by next month and the award development contract in June leading to f i rs t f l ight 24 mlater in Jun e 1971. Firs t f light of the system s aero

wil l take place in December of that year, and ini t ia l t ional capabi l i ty is planned for la te 1973.