The Navy is seeking industry information on Silent Anvil, a compact glide-delivered anti-submarine weapon concept that could broaden aircraft options but is not a decision to restore the retired S-3 Viking. 1 2
By PAI
Aug. 31, 2026
WASHINGTON — The Navy is asking industry to describe ways to build a small air-launched anti-submarine weapon that could be released by manned and unmanned aircraft, a market-research step that could eventually give carrier air wings another means to attack submarines at range. The request does not award a contract, select a design or commit the service to procure a weapon. 2
Naval Air Systems Command issued the request for information Aug. 25 for the Silent Anvil Air-Launched Torpedo, or SAA-LT. It describes Silent Anvil as a next-generation anti-submarine warfare, or ASW, standoff delivery system: a weapon intended to travel through the air from an aircraft to an area where it would engage a submarine. Responses are due Sept. 29. 2
The inquiry prompted former Navy officer Brent Sadler to invoke the S-3 Viking, the carrier-based anti-submarine jet known to crews as the “Hoover.” His Aug. 31 LinkedIn post called the requirement a “back to the future moment” and linked to reporting on Silent Anvil. 1
The comparison captures a change in carrier aviation, but it should not be read as a plan to bring the Viking back. The S-3 was a four-person aircraft built to search for and attack submarines; Silent Anvil is a proposed weapon system, and its public request does not name the aircraft that would carry it. 2 7
A market-research request, not a procurement award
The Navy says the request is for information and planning only. It says it may use responses to inform a possible prototype project under other transaction authority, but states that the notice is not a solicitation, an offer, a commitment to make an award or an obligation to pay respondents. That distinction matters: Silent Anvil has no publicly announced production contract, budget line or fielding date in the notice. 2
NAVAIR’s Strike Weapons Program Office is seeking rapid-prototyping alternatives. Its stated objective is an end-to-end demonstration within 18 months of an agreement award, followed by delivery of about 180 prototype all-up rounds within three years after a successful demonstration. An all-up round is a complete weapon ready for use rather than a component or test article. 2
The request presents two paths. Under the first, a company would provide a complete system from aircraft separation to engagement of an underwater target. Under the second, a company would develop an unpowered glide-wing kit around a government-furnished torpedo or other effector. A glide weapon uses aerodynamic lift rather than an engine to cover distance after release. 2
Reporting on the request says NAVAIR is seeking a munition in the 250-pound class, no heavier than 268 pounds, and compatible with the BRU-61/A rack used for small-diameter munitions. It also says the Navy wants a design suitable for internal and external carriage and for aircraft-carrier storage and handling. Those are size and integration goals, not evidence that a particular fighter, drone or carrier air wing is already cleared to carry it. 3
A different approach from today’s torpedo capability
The Navy already operates the MK 54 lightweight torpedo, a surface-ship and aircraft-launched anti-submarine weapon. The current Navy fact file lists it at 607 pounds, 106.9 inches long and 12.75 inches in diameter, with a 100-pound high-explosive warhead. The MK 54 MOD 1, which upgrades the sonar-array assembly and associated electronics, reached initial operational capability in 2023. 4
The physical contrast illustrates the design challenge. Silent Anvil’s public target weight applies to a complete weapon system that must move from an aircraft to an underwater target, while the MK 54 is a much larger established torpedo. The Silent Anvil request does not publicly identify the government-furnished effector, if any, or provide an intended range, sensor package, warhead, platform inventory, price or performance threshold. 2 3 4
For the P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, the Navy already uses the High Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapon Capability, or HAAWC, to increase the release altitude and standoff range of MK 54 torpedoes. The HAAWC solicitation specified carriage and release of five weapons from the P-8A weapons bay. 5
The P-8A is the Navy’s long-range maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft for ASW, anti-surface warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. NAVAIR says it has acoustic processing, radar and electro-optical/infrared sensors and can work with manned forces and evolving unmanned sensors. 6
Silent Anvil would therefore supplement, rather than replace, the P-8A and HAAWC approach if it proceeds. Its stated purpose is to expand the range of manned and unmanned aircraft that can conduct ASW missions. The request does not say it will replace MK 54, HAAWC, P-8A aircraft or shipborne and helicopter ASW forces. 2 5
What the Viking did — and why it is not returning
The S-3 was the last carrier-based aircraft designed specifically for anti-submarine warfare, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command. Introduced into fleet service in 1974, it combined radar, sonar, magnetic anomaly detection equipment, sonobuoys and torpedoes. The Navy received 187 S-3As, and later upgraded 132 aircraft to the S-3B configuration. 7
That equipment allowed a Viking crew to contribute to the full ASW sequence: locating a possible submarine, classifying and tracking it, and delivering a weapon. Its sensor operators and capacity to work from a carrier distinguish it from a glide weapon that relies on the aircraft, sensors and command network around it to provide a valid target area. 2 7
The Navy began withdrawing the S-3B in 2003 and completed its fleet retirement in 2009. Two aircraft continued with Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 30 after the fleet retirement, and the last Navy-operated Viking flew from Point Mugu, California, on Jan. 11, 2016, bound for NASA. A Navy captain involved in that final phase said another depot-level maintenance period had to be weighed against the limited remaining service life of the airframes. 7 8
The historical record supports calling Silent Anvil a return to the problem of carrier-based ASW engagement, not a return of the S-3 fleet. Restoring an aircraft type would entail airframes, depot support, crews, training, sensors and carrier integration; none is requested in the Silent Anvil notice. 2 8
The target remains difficult to find
An air-delivered torpedo is only one part of anti-submarine warfare. Before a weapon can be released effectively, forces need sufficient information to find, classify, localize and maintain contact with an underwater target. NAVAIR has said detection of modern quiet submarines is increasingly complex. It says fixed-wing ASW traditionally uses expendable sonobuoys to detect acoustic signals and that new detection concepts should supplement, not replace, existing systems. 10
That qualification is a material limit on what Silent Anvil could accomplish. The public request focuses on delivery from an aircraft to an underwater target area, while the Navy’s ASW research describes detection and tracking as separate, demanding functions. The Silent Anvil notice also calls for a networked system, but it does not publicly detail the sensors, targeting architecture or communications needed to generate an engagement solution. 2 10
The operational context extends beyond a single platform. Rear Adm. Mike Brookes, the commander of the Office of Naval Intelligence, told the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in March that China operated more than 60 submarines, including six nuclear-powered attack submarines, at least two nuclear-powered guided-missile submarines, six ballistic-missile submarines and more than 50 diesel-electric submarines. 9
Brookes projected that China’s submarine force could reach about 70 vessels by 2027 and up to 80 by 2035, with about half nuclear-powered. He also described Chinese investments in sensors, unmanned underwater vehicles and anti-submarine systems. Those are intelligence projections rather than confirmed future force levels, and they should not be treated as proof that Silent Anvil will meet a specified threat. 9
Tests, integration and evidence will determine the outcome
The next public milestone is industry response, not an aircraft-carrier deployment. NAVAIR’s eventual assessment will need to establish whether a compact system can separate safely from candidate aircraft, glide accurately, survive water entry, communicate as required and deliver a capable underwater effector. The announced 18-month demonstration objective, if an agreement is awarded, is a schedule goal rather than evidence that these tests have occurred. 2
The Navy has previously completed the first P-8A release test of an MK 54 exercise torpedo and then identified delivery accuracy, weapons integration and end-to-end tests as future work. That record shows why a successful weapon concept depends on aircraft separation, targeting and integration as well as the torpedo itself. 11
Silent Anvil could ultimately increase the number of aircraft able to contribute a standoff anti-submarine strike option. But the current public record establishes only a search for industry capability. Whether it becomes a fielded weapon — and whether it produces an operational benefit for carrier groups — will depend on prototype results, platform integration, detection and targeting performance, affordability and a later Navy acquisition decision. 2 10