'Air Bubble' Submarine Pursued by China Would Be Supersonic

NewsMax ^ | August 27, 2014 | Clyde Hughes

[lbryce]

The "air bubble" theory that would allow a submarine to move through the ocean at supersonic speed could be closer to reality through the work of Chinese scientists.

Called "supercavitating," the theory is being developed into new technology by scientists at the Harbin Institute of Technology's Complex Flow and Heat Transfer Lab, according to the South China Morning Post, and it could allow a submarine to reach supersonic speed underwater.

The "air bubble" technology would allow a submarine to travel from Shanghai to San Francisco in less than two hours, if the technology can actually be pulled off, according to the newspaper.

[Caipirabob]

It’s first practical application will be as an unmanned weapon. If they are already talking about using it as a means of conveyance, my first question is “How far along is the weapon?”

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I’m sure a hypersonic submarine would have no effect on living creatures in the water within five or ten miles.

[texas booster]

Let's face it. This institute is just developing new naval weapons, and decided to pretend that it had any type of commercial use.

Someone picked up the story and it got press, but this is all about making a Chinese version of the Russian Shkval torpedo.

IIRC, there were a few Americans busted in Russia and imprisoned for tracking down details of this new torpedo for us.

[Joe Boucher]

sick PETA on their asses.
This can’t be good for fish.

[camle]

um.... if you put a vehicle in an air bubble, wouldn’t it tend to fall to the bottom unless it has some sort of air propulsion system in addition to it’s water propulsion?

[The_Republic_Of_Maine]

Thank you.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

It’s the same basis as when you fart in a swimming pool and fall to the bottom.

[chrisser]

I understand from another article that the Chinese think they may have overcome the inability to maneuver.

That all sounds great. Hypersonic submarine that has a degree of control.

Problem I see is the ocean is dark. The "eyes" of a sub are via sonar. But this sub travels faster than sound. Even with passive sonar, by the time you get a sonar signal back from the whale, other sub, uncharted undersea mountain, or other debris in front of you, you've already hit it. Active sonar would be even less useful.

I'm sure even a small debris can do a lot of damage when you hit it at those sorts of speeds, not to mention what it would do to your cavitation bubble.

[Conspiracy Guy]

You beat me to it! Dang.

[Travis McGee]

Reality is just catching up.

[READINABLUESTATE]

I wonder how it would sound on SONAR?

[ctdonath2]

Methinks it’s not exactly commercial. More for...well...think underwater ICBMs.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Great minds think alike.

[Lou L]

I wonder how it would sound on SONAR?

Not only would it make a huge swath of sound, surely easily detectable by even a child with an empty soup can and waxed thread, it would likely be acoustically blind to everything around it. All its underwater sensors, sonar, fathometer, etc. would be incapable of "hearing" anything.

So what do you end up having? A submarine that can get from point A to point B in a hurry, all while announcing its presence by anyone with any sort of underwater technology. Once that submarine is at its "point B," it still has to go into whatever its "stealthy" mode is, and do what submarines are supposed to do.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Don’t be silly, planes don’t work under water.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

It is called Supercavitation.

Reminds me of an old girlfriend.

[Busko]

That wouldn’t bother the chinese. They have billions to choose from.

[Vermont Lt]

They die. What happens when an airplane hits a mountain?

[Vermont Lt]

Do you guys think that the engineers who are working on this haven’t thought about whales and what not?

I am sure they have sonar and what not to adjust their course or a big knife on the front to make going through them easier.

[Charles Martel]

Agreed, this sort of technology may be suitable for an unmanned weapon, but using as the article suggests is pure science fiction.