ASROC or Helicopters?
23rd June 2026
Helicopters are generally recognized as the best ASW platform above the surface; another submarine being the best ASW platform below the surface, of course. Unfortunately, this leads to the widespread mindset that every ship must have helos embarked for ASW.
The problem with the concept of helos on every ship is that the aviation element of a ship is shockingly expensive. A helo needs a flight deck (something on the order of 80ft x 50ft), hangar (another 80ft x 50 ft), dedicated weapon magazines, fuel storage, maintenance shops and parts storage, pilot and maintainer berthing (and food, water, etc.). The extra 160ft x 50ft of ship size means more power is needed to move the ship which means bigger engines which requires more ship size which … You get the idea.Another problem is that helos are only sporadically available, being notorious for needing maintenance at inconvenient times.
Sure, there’s a penalty to be paid for putting helos on every ship but, really, what’s the alternative since we need ASW? Well, one alternative is ASROC (anti-submarine rocket). ASROC began back when submarines still had to get fairly close to their target in order to attack. Today, submarines can attack with torpedoes or missiles from far beyond ASROC range (vertical launch ASROC has a range of around 12 nm). What’s needed is a much longer range ASROC, perhaps on the order of a hundred miles. Given that we have thousand mile cruise missiles I can’t see any problem with developing a hundred mile ASROC.
In the past, ASROC used arm launchers, box launchers, and common VLS cells. The flexibility in launch mechanism means that some kind of suitable launcher can be placed on any ship tasked with ASW.