The Hoot ( fa, حوت; ''Whale'') is an Iranian
supercavitation
Supercavitation is the use of a cavitation bubble to reduce skin friction drag on a submerged object and enable high speeds. Applications include torpedoes and propellers, but in theory, the technique could be extended to an entire underwater v ...
torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...
claimed to travel at approximately , several times faster than a conventional torpedo.
It was claimed to have been successfully test-fired from a surface ship against a dummy submarine during the Iranian military exercise "Great Prophet" () on 2 April 2006 and 3 April 2006. Iran test-fired the torpedo within its territorial waters in the
Strait of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz ( fa, تنگه هرمز ''Tangeh-ye Hormoz'' ar, مَضيق هُرمُز ''Maḍīq Hurmuz'') is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the ...
in May 2017.
The official Iranian news agency
IRNA
The Islamic Republic News Agency ( fa, خبرگزاری جمهوری اسلامی, ''Xebergâzari-ye Jimhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye''), or IRNA, is the official news agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Founded on 13 November 1934 as Pars News Agency ...
claims the torpedo was produced and developed by the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...
(). Most military and industry analysts have concluded that the Hoot is
reverse engineered
Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...
from the Russian
VA-111 Shkval
The VA-111 ''Shkval'' (from russian: шквал, ''squall'') torpedo and its descendants are supercavitating torpedoes originally developed by the Soviet Union. They are capable of speeds in excess of 200 Knot (unit), knots (370 km/h or 230 ...
supercavitation torpedo which travels at the same speed.
See also
*
List of supercavitating torpedoes A supercavitating torpedo is a torpedo using the effect of supercavitation to create a bubble around the torpedo to move at high velocity under water. The following is a list of supercavitating torpedoes which have been developed or are in developm ...
References
External links
BBC: Iran tests 'super-fast' torpedo
Post–Cold War weapons of Iran
Supercavitating torpedoes
Military equipment introduced in the 2000s
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