I think the main usage of this sized weapon initially will be the external decoy launchers on SSNs. Part of the contract specifically mentioned updates to the software and hardware of that system and they seem to be sized correctly. I think they likely will also see use in drones; there are already test ASW stores for MQ-9s including sonobuoys; what they currently lack is any method of attacking a target. CRAW might be a little sub optimal for a full sized boat, but I suspect a hit would still send a D/E homeward bound and screw its hydrodynamics enough to make it much easier to track.
"The RFP will be for taking the non-production-designed VLWT prototype — designed by Penn State Applied Physics Lab (APL) — into a production design. and develop it as an All-Up Round it to be suitable for manufacturing. Other Transactional Authority will be used to deploy the torpedo to the fleet.
APL developed the Counter Anti-torpedo Torpedo (CAT), a defensive weapon for use by aircraft carriers to defeat incoming submarine-launched anti-ship torpedoes. Five aircraft carriers were fitted with CAT launchers. The Cat was the first new-design U.S torpedo since the 1980s with the development of the Mk54 Lightweight Torpedo.
Early in the CAT design process, its potential as a multi-mission torpedo was noticed, said David Portner, Northrop Grumman’s senior program manager for undersea weapons, in a July 28 interview with
Seapower magazine.
The offensive variant that will be the subject of the RFP, the Compact Rapid Attack Weapon (CRAW), involved a software change to make the CAT into an anti-submarine weapon, Portner said.
The hardware-enabled, software-defined VLWT would be equipped with advanced electronics and processing power, with the software enabling the same weapon to serve in an offensive or defensive role.
The nine-foot-long VWLT is one third of the size of the Mk54 — the Navy’s most advanced light-weight torpedo — and weighs just over 200 pounds, compared with the 608-pound Mk54. With this weight advantage, a platform can carry more torpedoes or carry the same number at longer ranges and give the platform more endurance. The VLWT could be carried by surface, airborne, and undersea platforms, manned and unmanned. "