Why are submarines so hard to detect even with modern equipment?
In: Engineering
What makes you think they are hard to detect first off? I personally tracked a Russian Victor III at over 100 miles passively from onboard the USS Leyte Gulf. What can cause hardships:
1. The detecting unit doesn’t know ASW. Its a different type of warfare and the ship is married to the mission. It has to be practiced and that is not done these days.
2. Water is fucky. It can make sound bend based on pressure, temperature and salinity. Attenuation. Spreading. Snell’s Law. There’s a lot of sciencey shit that complicates things.
3. Active (ping), passive (listen), sonobuoys (active and passive), SOSUS, SURTASS, Submarines, MAD, LIDAR….each has its use case and challenges.
4. There are also differences between submarines in terms of modern quieting and application of stealth. Some countries have them strictly for coastal defense. Some never get underway and are only there on paper. The quietest sub operated by a dickbutt will get found faster than a relic sub operated by someone skilled. MOST countries land solidly in the dickbutt category as their submarines never get underway.
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