Small Torpedo Being Prototyped by Raytheon to Arm the Navy's Submarines

YOKOSUKA, Japan (Oct. 18, 2022) The Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Springfield (SSN 761), arrives at Fleet Activities Yokosuka for a scheduled port visit, Oct. 18, 2022. Springfield is forward-deployed to Guam and routinely operates in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility, conducting maritime security operations and supporting national security interests. *U.S. NAVY / Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Travis Baley*

ARLINGTON, Va. — Raytheon is building prototypes of a small torpedo that is designed to attack hostile submarines and defend the U.S. Navy’s submarines from incoming torpedoes.

The Compact Rapid Attack Weapon (CRAW) is designed to be launched from a submarine’s decoy launcher rather than the submarine’s torpedo tubes, and thus will not require a separate launcher to be installed on a submarine, said Bill Guarini, Raytheon’s director of Requirements and Capabilities for Under Systems, in a Jan. 6 interview with Seapower.

Applied Physics Design in Action

Raytheon was awarded a Navy contract in September in a down-select decision to take a data package from Penn State’s Applied Physics Laboratory’s design of its nine-foot-long Very Lightweight Torpedo, updated with Technology Insertion 1 — that addresses obsolescence issues — and develop a prototype of the CRAW. Raytheon is to build 18 CRAW prototypes and 12 turn-around kits, the latter to be used to restore used CRAW prototypes to a re-usable condition. The prototypes will be delivered to the Navy with the Technology Insertion 2 data package.

Guarini sees the CRAW as a natural fit with Raytheon’s existing torpedo business. The company builds the Mk54 lightweight torpedo deployed in surface warships and anti-submarine aircraft.

The CRAW prototypes will be built at the company’s facility in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.