page_title: Aerial torpedo
section_title: Modern weapons
hierarchical_section_title: Aerial torpedo / History / Modern weapons
context_page_description: An aerial torpedo, airborne torpedo or air-dropped torpedo is a naval weapon, a torpedo, that an aircraft—fixed-wing aircraft or helicopter—drops in the water, after which the weapon propels itself to the target. First used in World War I, air-dropped torpedoes were used extensively in World War II, and remain in limited use. Aerial torpedoes are generally smaller and lighter than submarine- and surface-launched torpedoes.
  Historically, the term "aerial torpedo" meant flying bombs and pilotless drone aircraft used as weapons, which would today be called cruise missiles. Today, the term refers primarily to water-borne torpedoes launched from the air.
context_section_description: Since the advent of practical anti-ship missile technology, pioneered in World War II with the MCLOS-guided Fritz X as early as 1943, aerial torpedoes have largely been reduced to use in anti-submarine warfare. Missiles are generally much faster, with longer range, and without the same launch altitude limitation of aerial torpedoes. Some modern aerial anti-submarine torpedoes do have the necessary guidance capability to engage surface vessels, though given the widespread availability of missiles on aircraft and the small, specialized warhead on anti-submarine aerial torpedoes, this is not an option normally considered.
  At the peak of the Falklands war, however, the Argentine Air Force, in collaboration with the Navy, outfitted an FMA IA 58 Pucará prototype, AX-04, with pylons to mount Mark 13 torpedoes. The aim was the possible production of Pucaras as torpedo-carrying aircraft to enhance the anti-ship capabilities of the Argentine air forces. Several trials were performed off Puerto Madryn, but the war was over before the technicians could evaluate the feasibility of the project.
  As a result of the loss of the role of anti-shipping aerial torpedo in modern naval doctrine, true torpedo bomber units no longer exist in modern armed forces. The most common platform for aerial torpedoes today is the ship-borne anti-submarine helicopter, followed by fixed-wing anti-submarine aircraft such as the American P-3 Orion.
  The caveat to the above are torpedoes delivered by missiles/rocket systems, designed for anti-submarine warfare. Some designs are a straightforward mating of a rocket-propulsion system to the torpedo with a purely ballistic attack profile, such as the American ASROC. More complex, aerial drone-based system with autopilot have also been deployed, such as the Australian Ikara. Most such systems are designed to deploy from surface ships, though exceptions exist such as the Soviet navy RPK-2 Viyuga, which can be launched from both surface ships and submarines.
  Given the relatively soft nature of submarines, modern anti-submarine aerial torpedoes are much smaller than anti-ship aerial torpedoes of the past, and often classified as light weight torpedoes. They are also often of cross-platform design, able to deploy from both aircraft and surface ships. Examples include the American Mark 46, Mark 50 and Mark 54 torpedoes. There are few if any aerial torpedo designs that are also used by submarines, owing to the significantly reduced capability of aerial torpedoes compared with their full-sized submarine counterparts such as the American Mark 48 torpedo.
caption: A French Lynx helicopter carrying a MK46 torpedo.
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