Russian engineers have developed a unique device capable of jamming torpedoes’ target-seeking heads and blinding the sonar equipment used by submarines; the device is due to add significantly to the combat capability of the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet.
The Russian newspaper Izvestia reported that a miniature device, which is capable of jamming torpedoes’ target-seeking heads and submarine sonars has been put into service at the Russian Navy.
“The Small-Size Hydroacoustic Countermeasure Device Vist-2” is launched from a submarine or surface ship and creates a powerful acoustic hindrance, which silences the homing heads of enemy torpedoes or enemy submarine sonars.
“Additionally, the 80-centimeter device, Vist-2, which weighs just 13.5 kilograms, can be transformed into a ‘false target’ thanks to the emission of a special signal that simulates a ship or a submarine,” Izvestia said.
According to experts, the Vist-2 substantially increases the Russian submarine fleet’s combat capabilities.
The device’s operated time is more than five minutes, a period of time during which a Russian warship or submarine will be able to evade an enemy torpedo or sonar array, according to Izvestia.
In an interview with Izvestia, Russian military expert Mikhail Barabanov said that “until recently, the Russian Navy was inferior to foreign naval forces in terms of creating jamming systems and protecting submarines and warships.”
He referred to the MG-34 devices which he said have been used by the Russian Navy since the 1960s and which are already unable to tackle modern self-guided torpedoes.
“As for the Vist-2, it is launched from a small-sized 123mm launcher. The device is on par with Western analogues in terms of performance characteristics,” Barabanov said.
Thanks to an electronic unit and the emitter, the device creates hydroacoustic noise in the specified frequency ranges at a certain distance from an enemy submarine.
According to the Russian state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport’s website, “as a result, the receiving tracts of [enemy’s] torpedo homing system lose the ability to detect submarines.”
“Also, the Vist-2 protects submarines “by creating a simulated radiation, in which the torpedo is directed to the drifting Vist-2 device,” the website said.
Izvestia, for its part, quoted Russian Pacific Fleet officials as saying that the first batch of the Vist-2 devices was supplied to the fleet late last year.
