Last month, Lockheed Martin marked a significant milestone with the 100th delivery of new production Guidance and Control (G&C) sections for the U.S. Navy’s MK 48 MOD 7 heavyweight torpedoes.
These critical components are essential to increasing the number of torpedoes in the Navy’s inventory, thereby enhancing the capabilities of the Submarine Force during what has been termed the “decade of maximum danger.”
Captain Chris Polk, the Navy’s program manager for undersea weapons, praised the achievement as a testament to the effective partnership between the government and industry. “The Submarine Force simply needs more Mk48 Mod7 heavyweight torpedoes to protect our nation’s interests,” he stated. “This can’t happen without Lockheed Martin, who builds the torpedo’s ‘brains’, or Guidance and Control section.”
The MK 48 heavyweight torpedo is a key weapon for all classes of submarines, serving both anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and anti-surface warfare (ASuW) missions. It is a sophisticated, acoustic-homing torpedo equipped with advanced sonar, digital guidance-and-control systems, digital fusing systems, and enhanced propulsion.
Its digital guidance system allows for continuous upgrades through software enhancements, enabling it to adapt to evolving threats. This flexibility is crucial as the Navy anticipates future combat requirements and potential parts shortages due to increased production demands.
Redesigning the torpedo to address part obsolescence, after a two-decade production hiatus, took approximately three years. As Defense News previously reported, this process was necessary to ensure the reliability and availability of the MK 48 MOD 7 torpedoes.