The periscope of HMS Talent, a British Trafalgar-class attack sub, in the waters off of northwest Scotland in 2009. Royal Navy/POA(Phot) Gaz Armes
Business Insider: The US and British navies' newest submarines are equipped with totally different kinds of periscopes
* The periscope has become one of the defining features of the submarine.
* But the newest US and British attack subs have totally reinvented how periscopes look and function.
Few parts of a submarine are as iconic as the periscope.
For more than a century, periscopes have been sub commanders' window to the outside world, allowing them to check their surroundings, find targets, and assess their attacks.
But that fundamental feature of the submariner's world might soon be a relic.
The US and UK are both fielding submarines equipped with new photonic and optronic masts that replace the periscope entirely while ensuring submariners can still see their targets on the surface.
Lenses, mirrors, and prisms are being replaced with sensors, cameras, and fiber optics, and it is changing submarine designs for the better.
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WNU Editor: This is impressive.