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The U.S. Navy has issued a Request for Information for the Silent Anvil Air-Launched Torpedo (SAA-LT), a stealth stand-off weapon designed to glide silently through the air before submerging to strike enemy submarines. Engineered for BRU-61/A bomb racks on fighters, bombers, and heavy drones, SAA-LT drastically reduces acoustic detection windows while keeping aircrews safe from advanced air defenses. Discover how Silent Anvil, Liberator, and LRAW are reshaping future anti-submarine warfare.
⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 - US Navy Concepts Silent Anvil Air-Launched Torpedo (SAA-LT)
03:08 - Heavyweight Mk 48 & Containerized Liberator Seabed Launcher
05:38 - Lightweight Mk 54 Limitations & Proximity Risks Against Modern Defenses
07:02 - LRAW Rocket Booster Range Extension for Surface Ships
08:02 - Silent Anvil Standoff Concept & BRU-61/A Bomb Rack Integration
11:18 - Gliding Flight Profile & Passive Acoustic Stealth Advantages
15:56 - End-to-End vs. Glide-Kit Design Challenges & Dimensional Constraints
18:18 - Prototype Timeline, Procurement, and Development Outlook
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SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/RTYb76Da
The U.S. Navy has issued a Request for Information for the Silent Anvil Air-Launched Torpedo (SAA-LT), a stealth stand-off weapon designed to glide silently through the air before submerging to strike enemy submarines. Engineered for BRU-61/A bomb racks on fighters, bombers, and heavy drones, SAA-LT drastically reduces acoustic detection windows while keeping aircrews safe from advanced air defenses. Discover how Silent Anvil, Liberator, and LRAW are reshaping future anti-submarine warfare.
⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 - US Navy Concepts Silent Anvil Air-Launched Torpedo (SAA-LT)
03:08 - Heavyweight Mk 48 & Containerized Liberator Seabed Launcher
05:38 - Lightweight Mk 54 Limitations & Proximity Risks Against Modern Defenses
07:02 - LRAW Rocket Booster Range Extension for Surface Ships
08:02 - Silent Anvil Standoff Concept & BRU-61/A Bomb Rack Integration
11:18 - Gliding Flight Profile & Passive Acoustic Stealth Advantages
15:56 - End-to-End vs. Glide-Kit Design Challenges & Dimensional Constraints
18:18 - Prototype Timeline, Procurement, and Development Outlook
Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join
#militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis
#themilitaryshow
SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/RTYb76Da
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NewsTranscript
00:01Modern warfare is evolving so fast, it's become difficult to keep up.
00:06But the more things change, the more some things stay the same.
00:10Take anti-submarine warfare, or ASW for example.
00:14Today, the process of hunting enemy submarines bears little resemblance to ASW of a century ago.
00:20It's now conducted with an integrated high-tech suite of sensors, platforms and weapon delivery mechanisms.
00:26But the primary ASW effector, the weapon that actually destroys the submarine, remains the same as ever.
00:33The trusty torpedo.
00:35There's no more effective method of sinking a sub than striking it directly with high-explosive warheads,
00:41and the lethality and precision of torpedoes improve constantly, as technology does.
00:46The problem today is getting your helicopters, jets, ships and other torpedo delivery platforms close enough to launch them securely.
00:53Modern layered anti-air and anti-ship defenses are also improving constantly, making close-range deployment an increasingly risky affair.
01:02But now, the US Navy has come up with an ingenious new way of deploying torpedoes with precision from extended
01:08ranges,
01:08by turning them into weapons that fly before they hit the water.
01:12The new system is called the Silent Anvil Air Launch Torpedo, or SALT for short.
01:18So, let's dive into what this new system is all about, and how it fits into the Navy's plans to
01:24continue being the dominant naval force on the planet for the foreseeable future.
01:28But first, if you enjoy our content, consider subscribing, and let us know your thoughts in the comments down below,
01:35we always read them.
01:37And, if you really enjoy our content, consider becoming a member, you'll get access to exclusive content we don't publish
01:44publicly.
01:45Now, to be clear, Silent Anvil doesn't exist yet, it's still at the conceptual stage.
01:51In late August 2026, the US Department of the Navy released a Request for Information, or RFI, seeking companies that
01:59can help develop a new air-launch torpedo for use from manned, unmanned aircraft.
02:04The main purpose of the new system is to address current limitations in the Navy's inventory, cost-effectively by developing
02:11a new type of anti-submarine weapon capable of engaging enemy submarines at greater distances.
02:17It's one of several new or developing ASW initiatives the Navy has announced in recent years.
02:24Since 2024, the Navy has been conducting technical reviews on its new long-range anti-submarine warfare, or LROAR, weapon
02:32system.
02:33In May 2026, its Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, or RDT&E, documentation for the fiscal year 2027, revealed that
02:43the program will now actually commence in that year.
02:45So, the Navy is clearly taking the development of the next generation of its ASW capabilities very seriously.
02:53But while the two projects have the same core objective, killing submarines from extended ranges, they're distinct developments with several
03:01key differences.
03:02Currently, the U.S. uses two main torpedoes for ASW.
03:07The MK-48 heavyweight torpedo, specifically the ADCAP and MOD-7 Sea Bass variants, serves as the primary heavy weapon
03:15for U.S. and Allied submarines.
03:17It's a beast of the seas, 19 feet long with a 21-inch diameter, a 650-pound high-explosive warhead
03:25and an estimated maximum speed of 55 to 65 knots.
03:29It can be launched from any of the U.S. Navy's 65-plus strong fleet of nuclear-powered submarines and
03:36has a range of up to 31 miles.
03:37It was originally designed to be compatible with surface ships, and the Navy successfully tested the MK-48 from deck
03:44-mounted tubes on destroyers and escorts, including USS Talbot and USS Bridget.
03:50But launchers for the MK-48 have never been installed on any other platform besides submarines, at least not yet.
03:57At the end of August 2026, just a few days after the RFI for Silent Anvil was released, details of
04:05another innovative new program to deploy MK-48 were derived from the aforementioned Navy RDT&E document.
04:13Liberator
04:13It's a stationary containerized launcher that's placed onto the ocean floor.
04:18Liberator is built to fire the MK-48 ADCAP heavyweight torpedo as a leave-behind autonomous weapon against surface ships
04:26and submarines.
04:27The container is sized to fit inside the Boeing Orca Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle's 32.8-foot multipurpose payload
04:35module, which identifies the Orca as the intended delivery vehicle.
04:40Due for testing in 2027, Liberator would mark the first known non-submarine-based platform for the MK-48.
04:48But the Liberator's payload isn't just limited to the MK-48.
04:52One-way attack undersea vehicles have also been flagged as potential payloads, as has the other main torpedo currently in
04:59use by the US military, the MK-54 lightweight torpedo.
05:04Thanks to ongoing upgrades over the years, the MK-48 remains as fearsome a weapon as ever.
05:11The next upgrade, Mod-8, is scheduled to enter serial production in 2027, testifying to its enduring usefulness.
05:18But it's very expensive and takes a long time to produce. Unit costs have risen to the $4.2 to
05:25$5.4 million range in recent fiscal years, with annual production rates hovering at around 50 to 80 units for
05:32procurement.
05:33That production capacity may be insufficient to meet the needs of the US and several allied operators of the MK
05:40-54, including Australia.
05:42So the US started developing lighter, cheaper, quicker to produce alternatives.
05:47And the MK-54 has become the Navy's primary lightweight torpedo for aircraft and surface ship launch ASW.
05:54With a 12.75-inch diameter, it's significantly smaller than the MK-48.
06:01It's also somewhat lighter, at around £608, and more than four times cheaper to produce, at between $839,000 and
06:09$1 million per unit.
06:11But the big difference compared to the MK-48 is that the MK-54 can be deployed from a much
06:17wider range of platforms, including helicopters, aircraft and surface ships.
06:21Its smaller size and weight make it suitable for launch from a wider range of platforms.
06:26But that does come with one significant drawback.
06:29With a range of approximately 3.5 to 5.65 miles, the delivery platform has to be in proximity to
06:36its target by military standards.
06:38As noted earlier, the intelligence gathering and anti-air and anti-ship defenses of the US's main adversaries are improving
06:45all the time, particularly China.
06:47That means the need for delivery platforms to be in proximity to launch MK-54s is becoming increasingly high risk
06:55to those expensive platforms.
06:57That's why the need for more powerful and stealthy standoff torpedoes has become one of the Navy's priorities.
07:03And that's where the Silent Anvil and LROAR enter the picture.
07:07Both systems are envisaged as upgrades to or expanded options for the MK-54, but from different angles.
07:14The main objective for the LROAR program is to extend the range of the current Vertical Launch Anti-Subbarine, or
07:20VLA, missile systems on the US's surface warships.
07:24The currently fielded VLA missile systems are also known as the RUM-139 Vertical Launch Anti-Subbarine Rocket, or VLA
07:32-AS-ROC.
07:33The VLA-AS-ROC weapon system comprises a solid propellant booster coupled to a lightweight torpedo, i.e. the MK
07:41-54.
07:42It can be deployed from any Aegis-equipped cruisers and destroyers, housing the MK-41 VLS.
07:48The LROAR will work in more or less the same way.
07:51A rocket booster flies to a pre-designated drop point and then deploys the torpedo via parachute.
07:57The torpedo hurtles downwards at high speed, then enters the water and homes in on its target acoustically.
08:04LROAR's main benefit is to increase the range of the launch torpedoes, possibly even doubling it.
08:09So, it's on a torpedo but a torpedo-launching system, which will almost certainly be used with the MK-54
08:16or its successors.
08:17By contrast, Silent Anvil is a proposed air-launch ASW standoff weapon designed to deliver a lightweight torpedo,
08:26or potentially integrate the torpedo and glide system into a single package.
08:30The idea here is for a small, lightweight, inexpensive, mass-producible torpedo that can operate at standoff distances
08:37and be deployed from a variety of aerial platforms like fighters, helicopters and large drones.
08:43In other words, it's a tiny weapon that can be fired towards enemy submarines from planes or drones launched from
08:50aircraft carriers or other ships.
08:52Now, enjoying the video? Make sure to subscribe to the channel for much more of the same.
08:57Here on The Military Show, we provide daily coverage and analysis of the most important military stories.
09:03Subscribe and enable notifications so you never miss out.
09:06Measuring just 70 inches and weighing about 268 pounds, Silent Anvil is significantly smaller and lighter than the MK-54.
09:15That's what in part enables it to be launched from a greater variety of platforms.
09:20But it also has three other significant advantages over the US's other anti-submarine weapons.
09:25The first advantage that Silent Anvil provides is its deployment versatility.
09:30As per the Navy's RFI for the project, the SALT is intended to operate with current US military aircraft and
09:37future unmanned systems.
09:39The document specifically states that the weapon should be mounted on an external pylon or carried internally,
09:45thus eliminating the need for a new type of aircraft to carry it.
09:48More specifically, the Navy has specified that the Silent Anvil should be mountable on the BREW-61A bomb rack.
09:56By specifying that the Silent Anvil should be compatible with this specific bomb rack and its 70 by 7.5
10:02inch envelope,
10:03the Navy is guaranteeing that the weapon can be widely deployed.
10:06The BREW-61A is a four-placed pneumatic ejector rack designed to carry 250-pound class glide munitions,
10:14such as the GBU-39B SDB-1, GBU-53B Stormbreaker and GBU-53A SDB-2 on a single hardpoint.
10:25It's the primary carrier for smaller diameter bombs, or SDBs, on the F-15E Strike Eagle,
10:32which can carry up to seven of them at once.
10:34The F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II also both have two BREW-61A racks in their weapons bays,
10:41and the AC-130J Ghost Rider and A-10 Thunderbolt II carry two and four racks on their wing pylons
10:48respectively.
10:49The system has also been tested with the MQ-9 Reaper drone,
10:54although it's not clear whether any such units have actually been deployed.
10:57Back in the 2010s, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-18EF Super Hornet, B-1B Lancer, B-2 Spirit, B
11:06-52 Stratofortress,
11:08and Unidentified Unmanned Combat Air Systems were also listed as objective aircraft platforms for the rack.
11:15Although again, it's unclear whether the BREW-61A has actually been integrated into any of these platforms meaningfully.
11:22Even so, while some have questioned whether the F-35's internal base will be able to hold the silent anvil,
11:29compatibility with the BREW-61A rack gives the navy a healthy set of deployment options for different scenarios.
11:36And that is, after all, one of the main strategic points of the system,
11:40a weapon that can be carried by virtually any USAF, USN strike aircraft or large UAV without new pylon development.
11:47The second major benefit of silent anvil is the killer feature. It glides before hitting the water.
11:55The idea is that the new weapon will be deployable from the air, far from its target.
11:59Once released, it will silently glide to the target area before submerging and striking like a regular torpedo.
12:06This would enable the navy to strike enemy submarines from greater distances without putting its pilots or drones in harm's
12:12way.
12:12As noted earlier, the MK-54 has to be deployed close to the target before the torpedo can lock onto
12:19and seek its target.
12:21Not so with silent anvil.
12:23In effect, it starts as a glide bomb and converts into a torpedo when it hits the water.
12:28In that sense, it's more comparable to a guided glide weapon concept than to a conventional torpedo.
12:34The basic idea resembles weapons that use aerodynamic guidance to cover part of their journey through the air before reaching
12:41the target area.
12:42But the fact that so much of its journey to the target takes place while gliding means silent anvil offers
12:48another crucial benefit,
12:49especially in today's radar and electronic warfare saturated battle theatres. Stealth.
12:54The RFI is deliberately vague on the specific acoustic signature metrics of the torpedo,
13:00but it's abundantly clear from the stated requirement that stealth is a top priority.
13:05And the stealth benefits are provided precisely by silent anvil's glide mechanism.
13:10That's apparent from the wording of the RFI itself.
13:13Salt shall maximize aerial flight endurance while minimizing aquatic immersion time,
13:19restricting water residents strictly to the minimum duration required for successful mission execution,
13:24it states, for very good reason.
13:27While it's gliding, the weapon is unpowered.
13:29There's no propulsion, no cavitation, and no acoustic signature.
13:33That means the target submarine's passive sonar hears nothing until the torpedo hits the water.
13:39And the later a submarine detects an incoming threat,
13:41the harder it is to repel or take evasive action.
13:45Adding to the stealth of silent anvil is the angle at which it enters the water.
13:49The louder and more audible the splash,
13:51the easier it is for the target sub to detect the exact location of the incoming torpedo
13:56and begin taking precise countermeasures.
13:59A steep, fast water entry may help reduce some aspects of the acoustic signature associated with water entry,
14:05although the actual acoustic effects depend on the final weapon design and entry conditions.
14:10And the silent anvil's entry angle of 45 to 90 degrees at a speed of 40 to 120 feet per
14:17second
14:18is exactly the kind of steep, speedy entry that'll minimize the acoustic splat
14:22that would otherwise reveal the weapon's position at the moment of entry.
14:26That should offer a huge improvement in detection time compared to both the MK-48 and MK-54.
14:33Once it enters the water, the silent anvil will have a significantly smaller acoustic footprint
14:38than either due to its smaller size and propeller.
14:41It's roughly half the mass and a third of the diameter of an MK-54 after all.
14:45But the real stealth benefits come from that extended glide time.
14:49Because the silent glide phase covers the bulk of the total range,
14:53the target submarine may only have seconds to minutes of warning before the torpedo is on top of it.
14:58By contrast, the MK-48 ADCAP is audible pretty much right from launch,
15:03given that it's launched from submerged submarines.
15:05That means it's detectable minutes or even 10 to minutes before arrival over its full range,
15:11even when traveling at its top speed.
15:13The MK-54 is largely silent while being parachuted into position from launch.
15:18It also aims for a fast, steep water entry to minimize the entry splat.
15:23However, it has a larger acoustic signature in the water due to its greater size and louder propulsion.
15:29Altogether, given that it travels a significant part of its journey to its target in the air, largely silently,
15:35the enemy submarine probably has a few minutes to react before the torpedo arrives.
15:39So, although it has a smaller payload than either the MK-54 or MK-48,
15:45the silent anvil may have a greater chance of a successful strike.
15:48Decreasing the reaction time from many minutes to mere seconds
15:51makes a huge difference in a submarine's ability to counter incoming torpedoes.
15:56And that reaction time might be reduced even further,
15:59depending on the final specs that the chosen developer ultimately delivers.
16:03The RFI presents potential contractors with two options for delivery of the final system.
16:08The first is what it calls an end-to-end solution.
16:11As it sounds, this would involve developing an entirely new system that integrates a glide system,
16:17a guidance system and an underwater propulsion system into a single package.
16:21This option is the more technically challenging of the two and likely much more costly,
16:26but it would deliver a single all-encompassing product in one fell swoop.
16:30The second option is much simpler and more cost-effective, at least on paper.
16:34It requires the manufacturer to produce a glide kit that would carry a government-furnished torpedo
16:39to the target area before the torpedo does the rest of the work.
16:43In other words, it would be something very much like the JDAM kit attached to existing GBU bombs.
16:49There's just one small problem.
16:51Currently, neither the US nor any of its allies produce a torpedo that fits the dimensions required for silent anvil.
16:58The listed constraints are a mass of around £267 for the torpedo plus guide kit combined,
17:05a maximum of around 70 inches and a diameter of 7.5 inches.
17:09But every production lightweight torpedo in Western and Allied service is in the 12.75-inch diameter,
17:1675-inch, 550 to 660-pound class.
17:20That includes the MK-54, Legacy MK-46, NATO standard MU-90 Impact,
17:27the British Stingray Mod 1, Japanese Type 81 and even the standard NATO MU-90 Impact torpedo.
17:34These weapons are substantially wider, longer and heavier than the silent anvil system stated overall constraints.
17:41The glide kit, the wings, radio and guidance may consume £20 to £44 of the total mass.
17:48But even after subtracting it, the torpedo alone would need to be under roughly £220 and under 7.5 inches
17:55in diameter.
17:56And nothing in any current Western production line comes close.
18:00That means the most realistic path is the end-to-end option.
18:03A completely new 5.9 to 6.7-inch torpedo designed from the ground up to fit inside the BRU's
18:0961A-sized envelope.
18:11It remains to be seen what different manufacturers come up with to meet the demand
18:16and which design ultimately gets the nod from the Navy.
18:19Fortunately, we're not going to have to wait too long to find out.
18:22The Navy hopes to have a working SALT prototype within 18 months of any signed agreement
18:27to produce around 180 prototype units three years after that.
18:32To streamline and expedite the process, it's said it intends to use a group called the Naval Air System Consortium
18:38to award agreements outside the slow federal contracting process.
18:42The RFI is also open to foreign companies, provided that they comply with U.S. arms export regulations
18:48under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or ITAR.
18:52Companies interested in the program have until September 29, 2026 to respond to the Navy's request.
18:59As for the cost, at this stage your guess is as good as ours,
19:03but it's likely to be significantly cheaper than any of the U.S.'s existing torpedo options.
19:08We'll of course be following developments closely and keeping you updated,
19:12so make sure you're subscribed to the channel to keep your finger on the pulse.
19:16In the meantime, check out this video about how Ukraine sank a $400 million Russian submarine
19:22not with a torpedo but with an underwater drone.
19:25Thanks for watching.
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