VietPress USA (June 23rd, 2016): In the News of latest Technology:
Navy Cites Breakthrough
Acoustic Submarine Technology.
KRIS OSBORN
Monday at 5:21 PM
New quieting technologies could help US submarine operate in
or near enemy territory without being detected; this will enable US subs to
detect and destroy enemy submarines, ships and incoming weapons at much farther
distances.
Navy leaders say the service is making progress developing
new acoustics, sensors and quieting technologies to ensure the U.S. retains its
technological edge in the undersea domain – as countries like China and Russia
continue rapid military modernization and construction of new submarines.
The innovations, many details of which are secret and not
available, include quieting technologies for the engine room to make the
submarine harder to detect, a new large vertical array and additional coating
materials for the hull, Navy officials explained.
“We are talking about changes in sensors and changes in the
capabilities aboard the ship that we think could be very dramatic in terms of
improving our ability to compete in our acoustic spectrum,” Rear Adm. Charles
Richard, Director of Undersea Warfare, told Scout Warrior in a special
interview.
Richard told Scout Warrior that the impetus for the Navy
effort, called “acoustic superiority,” is specifically grounded in the emerging
reality that the U.S. undersea margin of technological superiority is rapidly
diminishing in light of Russian and Chinse advances.
The idea with “acoustic superiority,” is therefore to
engineer a circumstance wherein U.S. submarines can operate undetected in or
near enemy waters or coastline, conduct reconnaissance or attack missions and
sense any movement or enemy activities at farther ranges than adversaries can.
Acoustic sensor technology works by using underwater
submarine sensors to detect sound “pings” in order to determine the contours,
speed and range of an enemy ship, submarine or approaching weapon. Much like
radar analyzes the return electromagnetic signal bounced off an object,
acoustics works by using “sound” in a similar fashion. Most of the undersea
acoustic technology is “passive,” meaning it is engineered to receive pings and
“listen” without sending out a signal which might reveal their undersea
presence or location to an enemy, Richard explained.
Testing of these innovations is now underway on board an
experimental prototype version of a Virginia-Class attack submarine called the
USS South Dakota.
Described as a technology insertion, the improvements will
eventually be integrated on board both Virginia-Class submarines and the now-in
-development next-generation nuclear-armed boats called the Ohio Replacement
Program.
“The testing going on with the acoustic superiority program
is more on the sensor side of the house. We see ourselves on the cusp of a
fourth generation of undersea communications,” Richard added.
The concept with a fourth generation of undersea technology
is based upon a “domain” perspective as opposed to a platform approach –
looking at and assessing advancements in the electro-magnetic and acoustic
underwater technologies, Richard explained.
“In this fourth generation, acoustic stealth will always be
required - get into a hostile environment. If I am noisy, I am not going to
live very long. We are constantly pushing the boundary of how to minimize our
own signature - while having a better ability to detect an adversary
signature,” Richard told Scout Warrior.
Richard articulated the first two generations as the advent
of the first operational submarine fleets during WWII and the subsequent advent
of undersea nuclear weapons during the Cold War.
“WWII was our first time to field a fleet scale capability
that was effective in a war. It actually helped us win,” he said.
The new “acoustic superiority” effort is immersed in
performing tactical assessments as well as due diligence from an academic
standpoint to make sure the service looks at all the threat vectors – whether
that be hydrodynamics, acoustics, lasers, among others.
The emerging technologies, however, are heavily focused upon
sensitive, passive acoustic sensors able to detect movement and objects of
potential adversary boats and ships at much further ranges and with a
higher-degree of fidelity. While high-frequency, fast two-way communication is
currently difficult to sustain from the undersea domain, submarines are able to
use a Very Low Frequency radio to communicate while at various depths beneath
the surface.
“Low frequency radio signals allow for slower communication.
Water is opaque and it is also opaque to radio energy. We have the ability to
use certain radio frequencies that do penetrate in the water but they tend to
limit you in data rate and receive only. It’s very reliable and it well
understood. Ballistic missile submarines are in constant communication,”
Richard added.
The South Dakota is slated deliver in the next few years,
Navy officials said.
Study: US Undersea Technological
Dominance in Jeopardy
Senior Navy officials
have explained that the innovations contained in the USS South Dakota do, at
least in part, help address an issue raised by a report by the Center for
Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
The report, titled “The Emerging Era in Undersea Warfare,”
says the technological margin of difference separating the U.S from potential
rivals is expected to get much smaller. This is requiring the U.S. to re-think
the role of manned submarines and prioritize innovation in the realm of
undersea warfare, the study says.
“America’s superiority in undersea warfare results from
decades of research and development, operations, and training. It is, however,
far from assured. U.S. submarines are the world’s quietest, but new detection
techniques are emerging that don’t rely on the noise a submarine makes, and may
make traditional manned submarine operations far more risky in the future.
America’s competitors are likely pursuing these technologies even while
expanding their own undersea forces,” writes the report’s author Bryan Clark.
In the report, Clark details some increasingly available
technologies expected to change the equation regarding U.S. undersea
technological supremacy. They include increased use of lower frequency active
sonar and non-acoustic methods of detecting submarine wakes at short ranges. In
particular, Clark cites a technique of bouncing laser light or
light-emitting-diodes off of a submarine hull to detect its presence.
“The physics behind most of these alternative techniques has
been known for decades, but was not exploited because computer processors were
too slow to run the detailed models needed to see small changes in the
environment caused by a quiet submarine. Today, ‘big dat’” processing enables
advanced navies to run sophisticated oceanographic models in real time to
exploit these detection techniques,” Clark writes.
Chinese Submarine Threat
When asked about the pace of Chinese undersea military
construction and modernization, Richard explained that the Navy is focused on
sustaining the research and development, or R&D, sufficient to ensure the
U.S. retains its technological superiority.
Richard added that the submarine fleet, and strategic
nuclear deterrence in particular, is all the more pressing and significant now
that China has operational nuclear-armed JL-2 missiles able to hit part of the
United States.
A recent Congressional report states that Chinese
modernization plans call for a sharp increase in attack submarines and
nuclear-armed submarines or SSBNs.
Chinese SSBNs are now able to patrol with nuclear-armed JL-2 missiles
able to strike targets more than 4,500 nautical miles.
The Chinese are currently working on a new, modernized SSBN
platform as well as a long-range missile, the JL-3, Congressional information
says.
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