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> This would remove one of the primary reasons subs need to surface , in order to GPS lock. Huh? Wouldn't it be enough to send some small thing connected by th

by comboy 3y ago

> This would remove one of the primary reasons subs need to surface , in order to GPS lock. Huh? Wouldn't it be enough to send some small thing connected by thin wires or wirelessly to the submarine (lasers, ultrasound, whatever) that could aquire location and communicate it? Given military budgets it could probably even be disposable. Leaving beacons in areas of interest also seems like a good idea. With good encryption their signal could be indistinguishable from noise happening around it.

dmos62 3y ago
Both these things are probably already being done to some extent. Submarine broadcast stations for navigation were definitely talked about a lot. Note that military submarines is a secretive field, so you ever know only so much.
monocasa 3y ago
You don't want to send out beacons like that from your nuclear sub. Your adversaries can detect those, which negates the purpose of having a nuclear sub in the first place. Additionally if they communicate through radio, you're back to the same problem because it's the thousand feet of water that blocks most radio waves. If they communicate via ultrasound you've just tied your sub to a nearby active sonar source. If they communicate via laser you have to be very close otherwise the power of the laser creates sonar detectable variations in the water near the sub.
baybal2 3y ago
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George83728 3y ago
> Wouldn't it be enough to send some small thing connected by thin wires or wirelessly to the submarine (lasers, ultrasound, whatever) that could aquire location and communicate it? They do, using either tethered buoys or 'buoyant cable antennas' (the cable is the antenna and is itself buoyant) They can use these without coming to periscope depth, or even slowing down.
vl 3y ago
They raise beacons which communicate via laser with satellites, thus avoiding giving away position from radio or audio. They use audio for short-range underwater communication, but this has side effect of giving away position. US also built giant ELF (extra low frequency) transmitter to send orders to subs which operated till 2004. Fun fact: subs have all necessary codes to launch nuclear strike on board since there is no way to transmit these code to them if they are submerged.

by comboy 3y ago

dmos62 3y ago

Both these things are probably already being done to some extent. Submarine broadcast stations for navigation were definitely talked about a lot. Note that military submarines is a secretive field, so you ever know only so much.

monocasa 3y ago

You don't want to send out beacons like that from your nuclear sub. Your adversaries can detect those, which negates the purpose of having a nuclear sub in the first place. Additionally if they communicate through radio, you're back to the same problem because it's the thousand feet of water that blocks most radio waves. If they communicate via ultrasound you've just tied your sub to a nearby active sonar source. If they communicate via laser you have to be very close otherwise the power of the laser creates sonar detectable variations in the water near the sub.

baybal2 3y ago

[dead]

George83728 3y ago

> Wouldn't it be enough to send some small thing connected by thin wires or wirelessly to the submarine (lasers, ultrasound, whatever) that could aquire location and communicate it? They do, using either tethered buoys or 'buoyant cable antennas' (the cable is the antenna and is itself buoyant) They can use these without coming to periscope depth, or even slowing down.

vl 3y ago

They raise beacons which communicate via laser with satellites, thus avoiding giving away position from radio or audio. They use audio for short-range underwater communication, but this has side effect of giving away position. US also built giant ELF (extra low frequency) transmitter to send orders to subs which operated till 2004. Fun fact: subs have all necessary codes to launch nuclear strike on board since there is no way to transmit these code to them if they are submerged.