RUM-139 VL-ASROC

The RUM-139 Vertical-Launch Anti-Submarine Rocket, usually shortened to VL-ASROC or VLA, is an anti-submarine missile of the ASROC family, built by Lockheed Martin for the United States Navy. Design work began in 1983, when Goodyear Aerospace was contracted to develop a ship-launched missile that would fit the new Mark 41 vertical launching system, and delays meant it did not reach a ship until 1993. It grew out of the earlier RUR-5 ASROC, with an upgraded solid-fuel booster and a digital guidance system. The rocket carries a lightweight homing torpedo that separates at a precalculated point in its flight and descends by parachute into the sea. The missile is about 4.5 metres long and reaches roughly 22 kilometres. The first versions carried the Mark 46 torpedo, while the RUM-139C, in production from 2004, carries the Mark 54, which reached initial operating capability in 2010.