5 days ago
- Science
- South China Morning Post
China is working on an ultra-fast torpedo powered by AI for submarine warfare
In the recent Chinese blockbuster Operation Leviathan, an American nuclear submarine uses hi-tech acoustic holograms to bamboozle Chinese torpedoes and their human operators.
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Months after the film hit cinema screens,
military researchers in China revealed they were working on an
artificial intelligence system designed to cut through exactly this type of underwater deception.
In a peer-reviewed paper published in Chinese-language journal Command Control & Simulation in April, the team from the PLA Navy Armament Department and China State Shipbuilding Corporation said their system had unprecedented accuracy for torpedoes travelling at high speeds.
Tested against data from classified high-speed torpedo ranges, the technology achieved an average 92.2 per cent success rate in distinguishing real submarines from decoys even during tense exchanges, according to the paper.
That is a leap from the legacy systems that often miss the target.
Russia's high-speed torpedo, the VA-111 Shkval, relies on supercavitation. Photo: Shutterstock
