Why?
Why the United States Needs SURTASS LFA Sonar
The challenges faced by the U.S. Navy today are very different from
those faced at the end of the Cold War nearly three decades ago. An
increasing number of diesel-electric submarines are being operated by a
growing number of nations worldwide. Due to the advancement and use of
quieting technologies in undersea vessels, threats faced by the U.S.
Navy are becoming increasingly difficult to locate using the passive
acoustic technologies that were effective during the Cold War. The range
at which U.S. anti-submarine (ASW) assets are able to identify submarine
threats is decreasing and at the same time improvements in torpedo
design are extending the effective weapons range of those same threats
(Benedict, 2005).
Sonar Systems
Passive Sonar System
Low Frequency Active Sonar System
To meet the need for long range submarine detection, the U.S. Navy
investigated the use of a wide variety of both acoustic and
non-acoustic technologies. Of the technologies evaluated, LFA sonar
was the only one capable of meeting the U.S. Navy’s long-range ASW
detection needs. SURTASS LFA sonar provides quantifiable improvements
in the U.S. Navy’s undersea detection capability and in sailor’s
survivability by extending the amount of time that naval forces have
to react to potential threats.