Distributed Remote Sensing for Naval Undersea Warfare: Abbreviated Version, 2007 (; backlinks):
The widespread availability of quiet, diesel electric submarines and inexpensive mines is posing a growing threat to global access by the US Navy. In response, the Navy has expanded its undersea warfare efforts and put particular emphasis on the potential for new distributed remote sensing (DRS) approaches. To assist with this effort, the former Chief of Naval Operations requested the NRC to conduct an assessment of DRS for naval undersea warfare.
This report provides a clear, near-term path by which useful DRS systems can be applied rapidly to pressing naval USW problems, and by which ongoing science and technology efforts can be directed toward the most useful options.
The report contains information as described in 5 U.S.C. 552(b) and therefore could not be released to the public in its entirety. The public version consists of the front matter and executive summary.
…The committee’s key conclusions are as follows:
Today’s distributed remote sensing technology is already adequate for tackling some very specific urgent naval operational needs.
The Navy’s approach to employing DRS systems will need to focus on defining and concentrating on one or two pressing problems—not the entire design space.
Candidate DRS solutions need to address the entire end-to-end (detection-to-prosecution) system and CONOPS for a given operational task, with appropriate system analysis, architecture, and external interfaces.
The Navy needs to focus on the art of the possible and get systems into the field and then improve them—that is, try to fill some technology gaps as testing proceeds.