'Cephalopod' Underwater Attack Drone

Russia Working on New 'Cephalopod' Underwater Attack Drone

The new drone appears designed to hunt enemy submarines.

By Kyle Mizokami

 HI SUTTON

Russia is working on a new armed underwater drone designed to kill enemy submarines. The unmanned Cephalopod drone packs small, lightweight torpedoes capable of fatally wounding enemy submarines on the high pressure, underwater battlefield.


According to undersea warfare expert HI Sutton, Russia has been working on the Cephalopod “killer underwater drone” since 2015, when its existence was revealed alongside the Poseidon nuclear apocalypse torpedo. Cephalopod was understandably overshadowed by the 100 megaton weapon, but in its own way is a threat to Western military might.

“We've known of the Cephalopod program since 2015 but until recently we didn't know much about it,“ Sutton, the authority behind the Covert Shores submarine blog and the World Submarine Recognition Guide, told Popular Mechanics. “Slowly a picture is emerging that Cephalopod is a submarine-killing undersea drone.”


Echo Voyager, a long distance unmanned undersea vehicle developed by Boeing.
BOEING

“It is very large for an unmanned undersea vehicle, larger probably than the US Navy's Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (LDUUV). It has a single curving propeller, called a screw, which is very similar to those used on full sized submarines. This suggests that Cephalopod is designed for long endurance and stealth rather than maneuverability. But it does have thrusters that may allow it to hover. Other Russian undersea drones use several small thrusters arranged to give excellent maneuverability.”

Cephalopod is armed with MTT 324-millimeter lightweight torpedoes. Lightweight torpedoes such as the MTT are typically anti-submarine torpedoes, carried by sub-hunting surface ships and helicopters. Lightweight torpedoes have smaller warheads (to puncture the pressurized hull of submarines) and a shorter range.

Russia’s submarine fleet is aging faster than it can be replaced, and an uncrewed drone like Cephalopod could take on missions usually assigned to crewed submarines. One possible role for Cephalopod is to escort Russia’s ballistic missile submarines, protecting them from Western attack submarines. Cephalopod could also protect naval facilities and ports, or operate in restricted waters such as the Baltic Sea.

“Unmanned underwater vehicles are transforming naval warfare. We do not know whether the Russians are building Cephalopod but either way it shows their thinking. With its torpedoes and large sonar it is clear that Cephalopod is intended to play an active role in battle.” Sutton said. “It could target shipping but it's small torpedoes are more of a threat to submarines.”

Source: Covert Shores