ANTISUBMARINE WARFARE SYSTEM

摘要

It is known to detect submarines by using several spaced apart sonobuoys but launching the sonobuoys is slow and positioning errors can result in large bearing errors. The present invention avoids these problems by providing a semi-rigid generally neutrally buoyant underwater platform made of a water inflated soft walled element on which is mounted an acoustic wavefront sensing array of at least three omnidirectional hydrophones in a preselected geometric arrangement. Circuitry connected to the hydrophones and associated array steering circuitry allow determination of the time relationship of the signals obtained from the hydrophones.