A new underwater target is being used to test the Royal UK Navy’s latest generation of submariners as part of a £5.3m five-year deal.
It will be down to the sonar and control room teams aboard Astute, Vanguard and Trafalgar-class submarines to first find these devices in Scottish waters – then potentially destroy them by launching torpedoes at them.
The devices – underwater mobile acoustic targets – simulate the noise and target echo produced by a submarine and will be used at BUTEC in Scotland.
The ranges run by the British Underwater Test and Evaluation Centre near the Kyle of Lochalsh are the ultimate testing ground for the Silent Service in UK waters, where boats’ sonars, noise emissions and torpedoes are tested.
With the new underwater targets, submarine crews will be expected to detect and/or classify targets as well as fire training torpedoes.
[mappress] Press Release, June 05, 2014; Image: UK Navy