How Can Helicopters And Planes Detect And Sink Submarines?
Story by Brad Hill • 10h
It might seem counterintuitive to have an aircraft in the sky find something hiding deep under the ocean's surface but not only is it a common task in the United States Navy, there are aircraft specifically designed to do so. This has been a mission for various aircraft since World War I when blimps hunted German U-boats. Of course that was before the age of nuclear power, before a military submarine could stay underwater indefinitely. Even though the crews of these submarine-hunting aircraft have a variety of systems at their disposal, it's still like finding a needle in a haystack. The aircraft utilize both sonar and radar systems to detect these lurking leviathans. When they find their prey, they drop aerial torpedoes.
Sometimes the search can be a general search over a wide area while other times it can be based on intelligence received from other sailors at sea. When the aircraft reaches the area a submarine is suspected of hiding, they'll drop the sonobuoys, which are basically a giant microphones. The moment a sonobuoy impacts with the water, an inflatable cushion deploys, keeping a radio transmitter on the ocean's surface to communicate with the aircraft while hydrophone sensors and stabilizing equipment descend to anywhere between 90 and 1,500 feet, depending on the submarine being hunted.
Most submarine-hunting aircraft arm themselves with aerial dropped torpedoes when necessary, but most of the time the aircraft is there to act as a deterrent. The Navy simply wants to know where the submarines are and let them know they know.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/how-can-helicopters-and-planes-detect-and-sink-submarines/ar-AA1DqfWn?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=894c5142d2e744349a64f7d0574befa3&ei=21
