Farnborough 'Top Gun course' for submarine hunters.

[Bellman]

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) has showcased how top sonar operators are trained to find enemy submarines.

The Advanced Acoustic Analysis Course (AAAC) - commonly referred to as the "A" course - takes experienced sonar operators and aims to buff up their skills to enable them to make quick decisions when detecting and classifying underwater threats.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1280805,00.html

http://www.silicon.com/publicsector/0,3800010403,39168227,00.htm

[Sonoboy]

Wish we could have a training thing like that for DW. Where do I sign up? Of course, there would have to be a lot of work done to have that level of sophistication.

[Mush Martin]

Thats an interesting claim

the sonar on Brtain's latest "Astute" class nuclear boat is so sensitive it can detect ships leaving New York while sitting in the English Channel,

shoot Icbm's on sonar bearings?:o

[To be]

Hmm, yes.... I imagine that would make sonar useless, though. It looks like that comes from the sonar maker, BAE Systems, in a news release made on May 8 2007. See http://www.baesystems.com/Newsroom/NewsReleases/autoGen_1074119838.html. That specifies the Queen Mary II, and probably falls under the "theoretically" category.

[Dr.Sid]

I guess it means 'for ideal conditions' .. which means with deep sound channel. Seep sound channel is capable of transfering noise on such large distances.
There goes story that US could pick old Russian subs leaving their ports with SOSUS arrays just because of that (SOSUS was also built to use sound channel as much as possible). And most ships are louder then the old subs.
There was also plan for rescue system is US for pilots, I'm not sure if it was used or not. It consisted of small explosive charge (1 lb) which was dropped into the water on place of the accident. It sunk and exploded at predefined depth. Well placed 1lb explosion can be detected almost on whole planet, and with time triangulation the location can be determined.

[Pisces]

I guess it means 'for ideal conditions' .. which means with deep sound channel. Well, that and a solution for that big landmass (=UK) that's in the way. I thought sound didn't easily transverse around the corner unless there was some horizontal gradient.