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| Artist rendering of a supercavitating propeller (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki) |
China has reportedly achieved a breakthrough in underwater technology that may allow submarines or torpedoes to travel at extremely high speeds.
A report published late last month by Hong Kong's South China Morning Post claims that scientists at the Harbin Institute of Technology in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province have come up with a method to create an "air bubble" that will reduce friction or drag underwater.
Theoretically, a submarine or torpedo utilizing this technology could reach supersonic speeds of about 5,800km/h, which would cut a transatlantic underwater journey to less than an hour and a transpacific journey to about 100 minutes.
The Chinese research is based on a Soviet-era military technology called supercavitation, which had been used in Russia's Shakval torpedoes to make them capable of traveling at speeds of up to 370km/h.
Read the full story at Want China Times