Underwater missiles use compressed air to jump before ignition
To prevent a submarine from becoming a target, engineers use a burst of air to toss multi-ton missiles into the sky before the engines ever ignite.
Launching a missile from a submerged submarine is a violent act of physics that risks crushing the vessel with its own shockwaves. If a rocket ignited inside its tube, the resulting heat and bubble collapse could shred five centimeters of reinforced steel. To avoid this, modern navies use a cold-launch system. A massive slug of compressed air or steam ejects the missile with enough force to breach the surface and hover twenty meters in the air. Only then does the engine ignite, a delay that reduces the submarine's thermal signature by eighty percent.
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