US Navy technician develops new programme to assist in tracking submarines
http://www.naval-technology.com/news/newsus-navy-sailor-develops-new-programme-to-assist-in-tracking-submarines-4829907 4 March 2016
sonar system
The US Navy's Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald's (DDG 62) chief sonar technician (Surface) Benjamin Lebron has developed a new programme to assist in locating and tracking submarines.
Known as the single leg bearing range (SLBR), the new programme is claimed to boost the ship's anti-submarine warfare capabilities.
The programme, which is a passive target-motion analysis tactical decision aid, calculates the algorithms and formulas used in tracking submarines within a short span of time.
"instead of being ten or 15 minutes behind the problem, the programme can solve it seconds after you take the measurements.
Lebron was quoted by Navaltoday as saying: "When dealing with Sonar, in addition to looking at all the acoustics, you also have to deal with all the bearing information. SLBR allows Sailors to input all the information and it draws out the lines of sound geometries and presents the information for you.
"So instead of being ten or 15 minutes behind the problem, the programme can solve it seconds after you take the measurements."
The SLBR is adaptive to any computer and digital environment and is continually tested by Sonar Technicians across the fleet.
Developed over a period of two years, the SLBR was implemented into USS Fitzgerald during the 2015 patrol cycle where the ship was engaged into anti-submarine warfare capabilities in exercise like Talisman Sabre 15 and multiple routine patrols in the South China Sea.
With a displacement of approximately 8300t, the 154m-long USS Fitzgerald is propelled by four General Electric LM 2500 gas turbine engines and can achieve a speed of more than 30k.
USS Fitzgerald is currently forward deployed to the US Navy's seventh Fleet to preserve the maritime security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific.
