Wow .. not using TA while hunting subs is a liberating idea. I played yesterday FFG quick mission to practice just that .. localization of sub with TA. But it really is quite hard. I'd say I improved myself in TA handling a lot, I'm now MUCH better then autocrew. But I can't do TMA on FFG (the interface is just impossible), so it takes like 10 minutes to get good range estimate from TA track. In that time I can kill the sub twice with helo. I just send it flying down the bearing line. With LWAMI helo detects the sub with MAD and atacks by itself.
Also as you noted, FFG's TA does not have that much range. One of the first thing I do on the quick mission start is I drop OTS DIFFAR or VLAD. Situation when TA get's something which buoy does not, is very rare.
On the other hand, using active with LWAMI is risky. Subs are aggresive as hell. Ping them few times from close range, and be sure to have fish on you. And FFG has very very few anti-torpedo options.
Which takes us to another topic: evading torpedoes in FFG. What I found is that speed helps, but not always. When dragging Nixie, it is crucial not to be more loud then Nixie. I trained evading with show truth and torpedoes never went on nixie when I was at flank. With LWAMI you also have to turn a lot, since torpedoes does not explode on Nixie. But when I slow down, or even stop, things get better. Torpedo can just ignore me. I guess it's because slow FFG is very quiet.
But then you have these wakehomers, and be sure that human oponents will send just that at you. It's pretty imposible to evade them. I miss deploying lifeboats in such cases
Does not US really have something like torpedo countermeasures ?