It's Submarine and It Shoots Like a Torpedo: This New Drone Could Change the Maritime War.

Forget F-35s and Aircraft Carriers: The Mark 48 Torpedo Just Scored America’s First Submarine Kill Since World War II, and It May Be the Navy’s Most Important Weapon

In March 2026 a U.S. fast-attack submarine sank the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena with a single Mark 48, the first American submarine torpedo sinking since World War II. The weapon entered service in 1972, detonates beneath a ship's keel rather than striking its side, and has no reliable defense. CSIS Taiwan wargames make undersea dominance decisive, and a submarine without a heavyweight torpedo is, as the piece puts it, a very expensive sensor. The…