July 29, 2021: The U.S. Navy has come up with a novel idea for using offensive mobile naval mines and a robotic submarine to plant them. This approach could even operate as an offensive weapon against Chinese submarines seeking to block access to the South China Sea and Taiwan. China is considered the major submarine threat in the Pacific and the South China Sea is seen as a major future battleground.

2021 年 7 月 29 日：美国海军提出了一个使用攻击性移动水雷和机器人潜艇布设水雷的新想法。这种方法甚至可以作为一种攻击性武器，对抗试图阻止中国潜艇进入南海和台湾地区。中国被认为是太平洋地区的主要潜艇威胁，而南海被视为未来的主要战场。

 

Currently China has about 55 diesel-electric subs of recent design in service versus 42 operated by Japan and South Korea, each with 21. Malaysia and Indonesia each have two and Australia has six. The United States has about 30 nuclear attack subs in the Pacific. The anti-China coalition also has a large array of surface and aerial ASW (Anti-submarine warfare) forces.

目前，中国有大约55艘最新设计的柴电潜艇在役，而日本和韩国操作的有42艘，各有21艘。马来西亚和印度尼西亚各有2艘，澳大利亚有6艘。美国在太平洋拥有大约30艘核攻击潜艇。对抗-中国联盟还拥有庞大的水面和空中ASW（反潜战）部队。

 

To even the odds China has built a network of underwater sensors in the South China Sea that is complemented by ASW (anti-submarine warfare) aircraft and surface ships. South Korea and Japan have similar technology monitoring their coastal waters. The only nation capable of blocking Chinese subs from moving out of the South China Sea is the United States, which has underwater sensors and a large fleet of ASW aircraft. The problem is defeating the Chinese diesel-electric submarine force. China has been trying to build effective SSNs for decades and that is still a work-in-progress. Chinese non-nuclear subs are another matter and they have become world-class.

中国在南中国海建立了水下传感器网络，并辅以ASW（反潜战）飞机和水面舰艇。韩国和日本也有类似的技术来监测其沿海水域。唯一能够阻止中国潜艇驶出南中国海的国家是美国，它拥有水下传感器和庞大的反潜机机群。问题在于击败中国柴电潜艇部队。几十年来，中国一直在努力建立有效的核动力攻击潜艇（SSN），这仍在进行中。中国的无核潜艇是另一回事，它们已成为世界一流级别。

 

The U.S. Navy believes robotic subs carrying mobile mines would be an effective new ASW asset because the U.S. is already developing some of the new ASW technology needed for this. This includes UUVs (Unmanned Underwater Vessels) and mobile mines. 

美国海军认为，携带移动水雷的机器人潜艇将是一种有效的新型反潜战资产，因为美国已经在开发一些为此所需的新反潜战技术。这包括 UUV（无人水下舰艇）和移动水雷。

 

Over a decade ago the navy adopted civilian underwater UUVs used for monitoring the oceans and has been using them to do that as well as collect data useful for wartime submarine operations. With a growing number of civilian and military customers, American UUV developers and manufacturers have been coming up with new ocean research UUVs that also have military applications.

十多年前，美国海军采用民用水下UUV用于监测海洋，并一直在使用它们来做到这一点，并收集对战时潜艇作战有用的数据。随着越来越多的民用和军用客户，美国UUV开发商和制造商一直在开发具有军事用途的新型海洋研究UUV。

 

The latest example of this is the new class of XLUUVs (extra large UUVs) with the ability to go deeper, carry a cargo bay for other research gear to be stored and deployed from, and operate autonomously for up to six months. 

这方面的最新例子是新型XLUUV（超大型水下无人舰艇），它能够下潜更深，携带一个货舱用于存放和部署其他研究设备，并且可以自主运行长达六个月。

The first of these XLUUVs is the Echo Voyager.

 

The first of these XLUUVs is the Echo Voyager, which Boeing developed from a research project and had the first one ready for testing in 2016. The tests were successful and have involved more complex and completely autonomous operations. In 2019 the navy ordered four militarized “Orca” versions of the Echo Voyager for $11 million each. Both models are diesel-electric powered autonomous subs that are 16 meters (51 feet) long with a payload compartment 9.1 meters long and 2.6 meters (8.5 feet) in diameter and inside the pressure hull. Propulsion is by battery powered electric motors and diesel generators to recharge the batteries when on or near the surface. This XLUUV has no topside sail and can stay underwater for days at a time because there is no crew on board to sustain. While submerged these UUVs can move at 14 kilometers an hour and have sufficient generator fuel to travel 12,000 kilometers. 

这些XLUUV中的第一种是“回声旅行者”(Echo Voyager)，它是波音根据研究项目开发的，第一艘在2016年准备好进行了测试。测试成功并涉及更复杂和完全自主的操作。2019年，美国海军以每艘1100万美元的价格订购了四艘“回声旅行者”(Echo Voyager)的军用型“逆戟鲸”（Orca）。两种型号都是柴油电动自主潜艇，长16 米（51英尺），有效载荷舱长9.1米，直径为2.6米（8.5 英尺），位于耐压艇体内部。推进是由电池供电的电动机并且柴油发电机在水面或接近水面时为电池充电。这艘XLUUV没有顶部舰桥，因为艇上没有乘员需要维持，可以一次在水下停留数天。在水下时，这些 UUV可以以每小时14公里的速度潜航，并且有足够的发电机燃料可以行进12,000公里。

 

The main difference between Echo Voyager and Orca is that Echo Voyager is built to dive to extreme (3,400 meters/11,000 feet) depths. Orca does without that but adds additional passive sensors and signal processing computers to detect other submarines or surface ships. There is also an underwater communications system for arming the dozen Hammerhead mobile mines Orca is designed to carry and place on the ocean floor in areas like the South China Sea. These Hammerhead bottom mines carry a Mk 54 lightweight torpedo, which is normally carried by ASW helicopters and aircraft. Mk 54 has a range of ten kilometers and a guidance system that is regularly updated. Hammerhead is being used in a similar fashion to a larger version of this used during the Cold War that deployed a larger Mk 48 torpedo. Hammerhead is an encapsulated system equipped with passive sensors to detect and identify submarines and surface ships and attack specific types of targets, like diesel-electric subs larger than Orca.

“回声旅行者”(Echo Voyager)和“逆戟鲸”（Orca）之间的主要区别在于，“回声旅行者”(Echo Voyager)专为潜入极端（3,400 米/11,000 英尺）深度而设计。“逆戟鲸”（Orca）没有这些，但增加了额外的无源传感器和信号处理计算机来探测其他潜艇或水面舰艇。还有一个水下通信系统，用于装备十几颗 “锤头”（Hammerhead）移动水雷的“逆戟鲸”（Orca）旨在南海等地区的海底携带和布设水雷。这些“锤头”水雷携带Mk 54轻型鱼雷，通常由反潜直升机和飞机携带。Mk 54的射程为10公里，并且有一个定期更新的制导系统。“锤头”水雷的使用方式与冷战期间使用的更大版本类似，后者部署了更大的Mk 48鱼雷。“锤头”水雷是一种配备无源传感器的封装系统，用于探测和识别潜艇和水面舰艇，并攻击特定类型的目标，例如比“逆戟鲸”（Orca）更大的柴电潜艇。

 

The first Orca will be delivered in 2022 and if the system works, a big if for the navy these days, the plan is to buy as many as 24 Orcas and use them for a variety of tasks while trying to avoid Chinese efforts to “accidentally” capture one.

第一艘“逆戟鲸”将于2022年交付，如果该系统能正常工作，这对美国海军来说是一个巨大的挑战。计划是购买多达24艘“逆戟鲸”并将其用于各种任务，同时尽量避免中国“意外”捕获一艘的努力。