Undersea Surveillance & Exploration

Sonobuoys

Midfrequency Sonobuoy

For Navmar, undersea surveillance and exploration is all about helping the Navy detect our enemies' underwater threats like submarines, unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) and mines, in addition to making the Navy's underwater vehicles quieter and less detectable. Navmar has a rich history in the field of air Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW), where we have been leaders in the analysis and development of sonobuoys for the detection of submarines.

A sonobuoy is a compact, self-contained package of electronics designed to be dropped from an aircraft, enter the water, separate into an underwater acoustic portion and an on-the-surface radio transmitter and relay the underwater acoustic signals it detects to the aircraft. The transmission received by the aircraft is then processed to determine whether an enemy submarine is present under the water. It provides the underwater ears for the aircraft to listen for submarines. Sonobuoys are expendable, reliable and one of the best methods in finding and tracking submarines, and the air platform remains the most capable means for rapid response and large area coverage.

Infact, our people have written the book on Airborne Anti-Submarine Warfare - "The Ears of Air ASW - A History of U.S. Navy Sonobuoys" by Roger A. Holler, Arthur W. Horbach and James F. McEachern. This book documents the historical development of air-deployed underwater listening equipment for the Navy, from World War II until the present day, and is a valuable reference for those desiring a working knowledge of the spectrum of U.S. Navy sonobuoys that were developed during the last 65 years. It documents the motivation, research and engineering behind those developments in a hardcover with 350 pages, including 177 illustrations. List price of $95.00. Click here to order your copy through our secure server administered by Skipjack Transaction Network.

As the submarine threat has changed, so have the sonobuoy and the research and development that Navmar has provided to the Navy. Today, Navmar analyzes, develops and tests passive and active acoustic technologies, magnetic non-acoustic detection techniques, air deployment mechanisms and communication relay systems for all types of sonobuoys. We have a dedicated and experienced staff, electronics and acoustic laboratories where we explore the bounds of acoustic sensors, and the capabilities to verify our performance estimates with real world testing in open water.