In a brief contract published on November 21st, the Strategic Capabilities Office under the U.S Navy outlined it’s intent to seek out offers for a newer, more affordable Heavyweight Torpedo, dubbed RAPTOR (Rapid Acquisition Procurable Torpedo).
Numbered SCO-PS-26-01, the contract indicates the U.S is moving forward with the initiative which was reported by The War Zone in 2024. The initiative seeks to augment existing United States torpedo inventory and production for use on U.S nuclear attack submarines with 533mm/21 inch torpedo tubes.
RAPTOR itself is meant to be much more affordable and scalable than the current Mk-48 ADCAP (advanced capability) MOD 7 heavyweight torpedo. As per The War Zone‘s article in 2024, the goal was to have a torpedo that could enter production in a short time frame that had a total cost of $500,000.
Revealed in Fiscal Year 2025 budget documentation, the MK-48 ADCAP MOD 7 prices in at just over $4 million dollars, with a total of 79 bought. While the MK-48 is an extremely capable torpedo, the cost of production and amount procured has increasingly become a concern as the U.S Navy seeks to prepare to fight conflicts where cost-effective and mass-producible munitions are a necessity.
“This is a mission-specific, limited-capability weapon, but it’s still the same explosive yield.”
Captain Chris Polk, Manager for Undersea Weapons with the U.S Navy, reported by TWZ
The exact capability trade-off compared to the MK-48 is unknown, but cost-cuttings could be provided through reductions in the capability of the Torpedo’s guidance capability, run time, or potentially by removing the option to target select vessels, such as undersea submarines.
Undersea Weapons on U.S Submarines
As it stands, the MK-48 in various configurations has remained the primary undersea weapon fielded by U.S Navy for over 4 decades. The current MK-48 ADCAP MOD 7 reached IOC in 2006, with an upgrade to existing software in addition to guidance and control improvements.
MK-48 MOD 8 (APB 6/ Tech Insertion-1) is a complete refresh of the torpedo. MOD 8 torpedoes are to feature all new guidance section with a newer, higher density sonar array, a new transmitter, and a new receiver. New sensors are in addition to a new Warhead Electronics System to improve fusing and new fiber-optic guiding wire which is apart of an enhanced Post Launch Communications System.
Additionally, MOD (APB 7/Tech Insertion-2) is in the works, and will further enhance the heavy hitter’s range and propulsion, as well as improved sensing capabilities. Interestingly, MOD 8 and MOD 9 are designated in budget documentation to be utilized in different mission sets and offer, “two distinctly different capabilities”.
In addition to heavyweight options, Naval News previously reported that the U.S Navy is perusing Project Revolver, which seeks to mount multi-packed MK 58 Compact Rapid Attack Weapon (CRAW) 6.75in Torpedoes onto Virginia Class Nuclear Attack submarines. Subsequently, the mounting of these lighter and smaller torpedoes onto U.S SSNs would drastically increase their magazine depth with utilization in the main torpedo room, ejection via SSN countermeasure tubes, and launching via vertical launch cells.
