Originally Posted by
ORAC
I would have thought their best chance of a detection was the SOSUS chain.
If it is still operational.
Back to the original post. A towed sonar array would possibly need to be within 6000 feet of the source. That gives a swept width of just 2 miles. Allowing for overlap you are probably looking at a track spacing of 1.5 miles. To detect a source using a towed array I would guess no more than 9 kts - let us say 6 kts then. It would take 10 hours for one 60 mile sweep. It would take 60 hours to clear a box just 10 miles x 60.
Then you must factor in water depth. No good with your sensor at more than 6000 feet off the bottom.
If you imagine the ditching or crash distance of 15 miles in relation to track you are looking at a box 30 x 60 or 180 hours. That is over one week to sweep one box with no better than 70% probability.