Why is putting air-defence missiles on submarines usually a bad idea?
Short answerThe required sensors compromise stealth and rarely deliver the targeting quality needed to make a submarine-launched air-defence shot worthwhile.
NotesA submarine that raises and operates a radar can reveal its position beyond the radar's own useful target-detection range. Passive sonar can pick up the effects of helicopter rotor wash on the water, but that does not necessarily provide data precise enough to aim a missile. A weapon fired underwater must then reach the air and acquire its target. Surface defence while taking in air, or an infrared system of the kind discussed for Soviet submarines, offers narrower possibilities. The answer leaves room for such niche cases while judging concealment and escape the more useful response in most circumstances.