Towed Acoustic Countermeasures for Defending Acoustic Homing Torpedoes

Abstract

The growing torpedo threat to ships and submarines demands effective countermeasures for defence. Detection, classification and localisation of an attacking torpedo is the first step towards launching effective countermeasures. Studies are on the rise to use the existing sonar systems to detect torpedoes and subsequently use countermeasures. The use of towed array sonar systems for torpedo detection and acoustic counter measures are the most recent and not reported much in open literature. This paper presents a modular acoustic counter measure approach using towed decoy against acoustic homing torpedoes. Describes the technologies and algorithms required for different modes of towed decoy, which is effective against both active and passive acoustic homing torpedoes. Towed decoy signal generation schemes and their realisation using digital signal processing hardware are outlined in this paper.