The last decade has not been the easiest of times for many of those companies that have traditionally been engaged in the engineering and manufacture of heavyweight torpedoes. Whereas 10 years ago there were a"t least six companies in the western hemisphere undertaking the development, manufacture and marketing of complex 533 mm-diam-eter underwater guided weapons, reduced domestic development funding and declining international demand means that today there appear to be only three enterprises -one in the United States and two in Europe - that can still claim heavyweight torpedo development and production as a core business stream. That is not to say, however, that others are not still active at a certain level, for example providing long-term support and post-design services.
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