Waldo,
I believe I am the exception that proves the rule…

I actually am a tremendous backer of funding for a strong Navy, esp. new warships and within that category, esp. new Virginia Class submarines and research for new submarine technology.

That support notwithstanding, this high intensity mid-frequency sonar is pure folly. It violates the prime directive of the ‘Silent Force’ (Submarine Service) which is, REMAIN HIDDEN! If you saw “The Hunt for Red October,” you will realize that active sonar, aka ‘pings’ are used very rarely by subs, as they give away positions of all of the players. In reality, they are NEVER used in anything but exercises by submarines other than research vessels.

You see, any noise sent out into the water in any form has the unfortunate effect of not only exposing enemy assets (ships and subs), but these same sound reflections expose the location of one’s own forces assets at the same time! Reflected noise = detected object, no matter the source or direction of the noise.

It is my belief that some member or members of the Military Appropriations Navy Sub-committee received campaign money for support of this pet project by a subcontractor for developing this stupid sledgehammer of a detection tool when what is really needed is computer software/hardware development for more advanced PASSIVE (purely listening without producing sound, aka, a ping) detection capabilities. And more submarines to use these tools upon.

These passive capabilities are best deployed upon submarines, due to their inherent silence and their ability to position themselves at various depths and locations without being located. But submarines are expensive, damn expensive! A cool billion a piece for Virginia-class subs if produced at a minimum of two per year, more if mass-production is not employed.

So when this contract for high-intensity sonar came out, what was going on…? The base closure commission was trying to close navy bases. Groton (formerly major submarine base and production/maintenance site of Electric Boat nearby) was supposed to close and all submarines based and maintained there were supposed to go to Norfolk. Groton is in Connecticut. Joe Lieberman and Christopher Dodd are the democratic senators from CT, and five of our six reps were democratic. Connecticut gave the big middle finger to Bush in ‘04 and this contract came out soon thereafter. Groton survived but more subs are moved from Groton every year, with only six based there now. Ironically, the first Seawolf-class sub (predecessor to Virginia-class, three produced, line dropped in favor of the cheaper Virginia-class) was named the USS Connecticut, and was re-homed out of Groton to Bremerton, Washington last year!

But I digress and rant. The point is that there is technology ready to be developed that requires a lot of research and growth into supercomputing and appropriate software aboard subs that analyzes the almost infinite amount of background noises produced in the ocean and looks for anomalies in the patterns of noises that can be calculated to be “holes in the ocean” that are likely to be enemy submarines.

Allow me a brief digressive background here for those less submarine geeky than I – there are some very quiet subs around now besides our own. Russia is exporting cheap and quiet diesel/electric submarines known as Kilos. They are very capable and can hide or move slowly for days almost noiselessly and can wait in places such as the Straights of Hormuz or the Taiwan Straights. They are being sold in numbers to China, Iran, Pakistan, India and whoever else can come up with 50 million bucks or so. They can be configured to lay mines, launch sub-to-ship and sub-to-air missiles, and of course torpedoes.

Our subs, when tasked to track these Kilos (and any other sub) can do so quite capably right now. The problem is that the fleet is aging and disappearing way faster than it can be replaced by new subs. Not to mention that China is building its sub fleet four times as quickly as the US is, and their quality, while historically poor, is improving quickly.

So a slick politician, utilizing the leverage of “look how expensive subs are, who needs ‘em?” and then presenting the sledgehammer sonar as a cheap alternative for locating those nasty Iranian/Chinese, etc. subs gets to look like a hero to those other members of Congress that don’t see the big picture.

And you also have dead and maimed marine mammals. Ironically for me (tree-hugger and non-mammal eater that I am) this issue is secondary. The primary atrocity here is that this technology is suicide to our own Navy, at least to the subs. So if somehow there is a strategy to survive without subs (I could write volumes on why this is not intelligent militarily), then I guess one could argue for the use of this ’sledgehammer’ sonar, but it is absolute folly that I think comes from a previously promised sweetheart contract to somebody, and that I believe will never be used successfully in any capacity.

The history of this contract needs to be researched by an inquisitive reporter against the historical context of the base closure commission and questioned as to how it fits within the current future strategic planning of the Navy. I think the “poor whales” argument is great for motivating the electorate, but it misses the point that the whole strategy being tested is as ridiculous as testing a bi-directional pistol that you can shoot forwards or backwards because a bullet comes out both ways.

Posted by Chris Gorski on 15 July 02009 @ 9pm

Also, the public needs to be educated that “SONAR” is not just produced sound. There is PASSIVE and ACTIVE. Everyone thinks ACTIVE is all there is, thanks to Das Boot and old WWII movies. Think *PING*

In reality PASSIVE sonar is used 99.999999999% (numbers approximated) of the time to locate ships and subs. PASSIVE means just listening closely for noises of machinery, water turbulence, cavitation (bubbles), etc. PASSIVE carries almost zero risk of giving one’s self away and requires intelligence, patience and forbearance on the part of the commander and crew to assemble the data needed to track and anticipate the movements of the enemy.

ACTIVE is Hollywood and equates submarines with testosterone and brashness and action. These attributes are not what life aboard a submarines is about nor should it be. Submarine warfare is a game of chess, not a duel.

Posted by Chris Gorski on 15 July 02009 @ 10pm

I learn so much from this blog. :)

Posted by Waldo Jaquith on 15 July 02009 @ 10pm

The Navy’s PR site to pitch the product to the public is here: http://www.surtass-lfa-eis.com/

It is essentially a two part system – SURTASS is a passive towed sonar array for listening, no problem there. The LFA is the issue – if they can’t here that pesky little sub they know must be around somewhere, the send out acoustic pulses of up to 235 decibels using the Low Frequency Array to listen for the reflected sounds to analyze. If you check the explanatory diagrams on the site they show enemy subs, but no US subs as players…

Posted by Chris Gorski on 15 July 02009 @ 10pm

Raytheon (originally via Hughes Aircraft Co., which it later acquired), has the contract for the SURTASS LFA system since it won it in 1996. General Dynamics, who builds subs, is a rival to Raytheon. Researching their campaign contributions from 1994/5 or so onward should be very interesting.

Posted by Chris Gorski on 15 July 02009 @ 11pm

A novel novel that was, Chris. Thanks. Very knowledgeable (and more importantly, willing to share that knowledge), it seems.

Posted by Henn W. on 16 July 02009 @ 12am