An experimental US military program could use relatively inexpensive guided bombs to destroy maritime targets, offering a key capability against Houthi vessels.

The QUICKSINK program, a partnership between the US Navy and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), provides options to neutralize surface maritime threats.

While torpedoes predominantly come from submarines, new methods explored through QUICKSINK are meant to achieve anti-ship lethality with air-launched weapons, including modified 907.2kg precision-guided bombs.

It primarily comprises a Weapon Open Systems Architecture seeker that can be integrated with the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), a guidance kit that converts unguided, free-fall bombs into accurate, "smart" munitions.

It includes a redesigned nose plug intended to keep a bomb from veering off in an unintended direction if it hits the water before the target.

Low-cost precision targeting

QUICKSTRIKE enables precision targeting of static and moving maritime surface vessels at a low cost, according to AFRL, which considers the program a "technology demonstration," not a front-line weapon.

"Heavy-weight torpedoes are effective [at sinking large ships] but are expensive and employed by a small portion of naval assets," Maj. Andrew Swanson, 85th TES division chief of Advanced Programs, said in April 2022.

"With QUICKSINK, we have demonstrated a low-cost and more agile solution that has the potential to be employed by the majority of Air Force combat aircraft, providing combatant commanders and warfighters with more options."

QUICKSINK would complement more expensive anti-ship missiles and provide a much lower-cost weapon that could be bought in large numbers, observers have noted.

It could be valuable in disrupting undefended enemy logistics vessels such as cargo ships and oilers, which often lack their own advanced air defense systems.

Any aircraft that can carry a standard JDAM will be able to carry the modified maritime JDAMs.

The effectiveness of QUICKSINK has been shown in a number of exercises and demonstrations.

A US Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber in July helped sink a decommissioned US warship in the Pacific using QUICKSINK.

The B-2 targeted the ex-USS Tarawa, an amphibious assault ship, as part of the RIMPAC maritime and air exercise.

In an test in April 2022, an F-15E Strike Eagle released a modified GBU-31 JDAM to destroy a full-scale surface vessel in the Gulf of Mexico.