Soviet-Style Show Trial Sends Warning to U.S.

by Eric Margolis

Edmond Pope, now a 54-year old businessman, was arrested in Moscow by the Russian security service, FSB (formerly KGB), as he was buying plans from a Russian scientist for a revolutionary torpedo known as 'Shkval,' or 'Squall.' The seven-week trial was the usual travesty one expects from Russia's judicial system, a holdover from Soviet days when anyone accused by the state was found automatically guilty by the rubber-stamp courts.

The real purpose of the trial was to send a warning: the 'everything's for sale' era of Boris Yeltsin was over. The KGB's hard men, with President Vladimir Putin at their head, were shutting down Moscow's military-secrets mart.

Ever since the collapse of communism in 1989-1991, Russian bureaucrats, intelligence officers, and gangsters have been hawking military technology and secrets on a truly massive scale to any buyers with U.S. dollars -- like the unfortunate Mr Pope, who likely intended to sell the data to a U.S. defense manufacturer.

Moscow's secrets-sale became so wild and open that CIA and Britain's MI6 set up buying offices near the Kremlin. Even I was offered secret files from KGB archives, for cash, of course. The nadir in the rape of Russia's security came in the late 1990s, when Yeltsin approved the sale to the U.S. Air Force of one of the most important 'crown jewels' of Soviet technology, a compact nuclear reactor that gave spy satellites enormous power and capability to see through thick clouds and smoke.

The most interesting part of the 'affaire' Pope was what the American businessman was after: plans for Russia's remarkable 'Squall' torpedo. This weapon, 533mm in diameter by 8.23 meters long, has a reported underwater speed in excess of 200 knots (220mph), a range of 20 miles, and an operational depth of 400 meters. Naval sources say 'Squall' may even be able to travel at 300mph (500 kph) underwater.

'Squall' attains its unprecedented speed by making use of 'super-cavitation,' a hydro-dynamic principal known since Isaac Newton's day, but still only partially understood by western scientists. The missile is discharged from a sub's torpedo tubes by compressed air, then uses propellers until well clear of the sub. Or, it may be catapulted out. Then, a rocket motor fires, propelling the weapon to high speed. The 'Squall's' flattened nose streams water backwards and away from the missile's body, causing a large air bubble to form around the torpedo, which is maintained by high-pressure air pumped from the torpedo's nose.

Conventional torpedoes travel at 35-45 knots; the fastest western weapon, Britain's 'Spearfish,' hits 75 knots. All struggle against water resistance. By contrast, the air bubble from super-cavitation that envelops 'Squall' almost totally eliminates friction with water, permitting enormous speed. The only part of 'Squall' that actually touches water is its nose.

Thanks to its great velocity, 'Squall' can destroy an enemy sub before it has time to react. The system can reportedly be configured to hit surface or submerged targets at long ranges, up to 250 kms, by using a carrier rocket. Guidance, however, is a major problem. Some intelligence sources say the torpedo is unguided, in essence, an underwater bullet. One may envisage a submarine firing salvos of 'Squalls' at surface or underwater targets. Russian sources claim a guidance system for 'Squall' has been developed.

'Squall,' however, has a major weakness. Its highly volatile rocket fuel is extremely dangerous. Western naval experts are convinced a series of massive weapons explosions ripped apart and sank the huge Russian submarine 'Kursk' last August, with the loss of 118 sailors.

These explosions were almost certainly caused by a missile or torpedo's volatile liquid propellant igniting while it was in the sub's forward launch tube. This, in turn, detonated the weapon's warhead and other stored torpedoes and missiles. 'Kursk' was at periscope depth, testing both the 200km-ranged SS-N-19 missile, with a 1,000kg warhead, and an improved model of 'Squall.' Little wonder the Russians are so sensitive about the 'Squall.'

The U.S. Navy has its own 'black' super-cavitation projects. Naval Intelligence, one of America's more effective spy agencies, must have been tracking 'Squall,' which uses American-developed science, since it first came to light six years ago. It's hard to imagine the Navy would have been bumbling enough to use the obvious Mr Pope to buy 'Squall's' plans on the open Russian market.

Still, 'Squall' is a terrifyingly deadly weapon that totally upsets the underwater balance of power between U.S. and Russian submarines. The U.S. Navy must have its equal, by fair means or foul, otherwise its subs risk being sunk without warning. Perhaps former agent Pope was asked to do on the more or less open market what Navy spooks had failed to obtain by clandestine means.