Leon & IRaven
Without giving too much away about this highly classified topic, anyone who knows anything about submarine detection, location and prosecution will tell you that you need more than just a couple of sonobuoys to achieve your goal. You very often need large numbers of buoys;
Fields and barriers are a typical example of the need for more than a couple of these devices, and next to the human eye ball and seeing the darned thing, the only other way of identifying your prey is by listening to it (assuming of course that he isn't going to stick a mast up and use his radar)
It is for these reasons alone that MPA are used for ASW. Detect, locate, prosecute.
Satellites are great for watching ships and subs leave port, but I fail to understand how they can detect a submarine submerged. Lets face it, it won't be the first time a whale has been mis ID's as a sub has it? So something quite big, under the surface, moving at say 5kts, would the wave movement and water dispacement be that much different to a small nuke?? I'm not so sure. However, stick a buoy next to it, and the sonics team will have an ident on it in seconds, literally.
As Davejb has explained it's all about being flexible and having the expertise 'on the spot' to make the right decisions. Your UAV, while a great bit of kit I'm certain, is no where near as good, capable or flexible as having a manned MPA.
Apart from the very basics, I don't understand sonics at all. It is indeed a 'kind of magic' to many of us. I have listened in while the wet team are tracking a contact and I have heard all of the squeeks, farts and burps, but it is truly an art to hear the lead wet or whoever in the team explain 'well that's a shrimp' thats a merchant ship, or thats the sub. That skill was achieved after many years and to loose it would be a disgrace and a huge loss.
I genuingly hope that something can be salvalged from this fiasco and that Nimrod can be brought into service. IMHO only a fool would argue that we don't need an MPA.
Winco