Context: In a significant development, India and the U.S. announced cooperation on co-production of U.S. Sonobuoys for the Indian Navy, a high-end technology that allows tracking submarines in the deep seas and oceans, to enhance undersea domain awareness (UDA).
Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: Sonobuoys, P-8I Maritime Aircraft.
Recent Development
- India and the U.S. will manufacture sonobuoys for the Indian Navy to US Navy standards in accordance with ‘Make in India’ principles.
- Co-production of sonobuoys:
- US-based Ultra Maritime and Indian defence PSU Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) will co-produce sonobuoys.
- Co-production will happen through transfer of technology from Ultra Maritime to BDL.
- These will be produced at a facility in Visakhapatnam, which will go operational by 2027.
- The Indian Navy operates 12 P-8I maritime patrol aircraft. These sonobuoys are dropped from the aircraft into the sea for anti-submarine warfare.
- Significance: Help augment the Indian Navy’s capability to detect and track underwater objects, particularly the submarines and enhance undersea domain awareness.
What are Sonobuoys?
- Sonobuoys are expendable, electro-mechanical acoustic sensors that relay underwater sounds emitted from ships and submarines.
- They remain active for about 24 hours and help in detection, classification and prosecution of adversarial ships and submarines.
- Working Mechanism:
- A naval helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft generally drops sonobuoys in a pattern. They are dropped in canisters and are deployed automatically upon impact with water.
- An inflatable system with a radio transmitter remains on the surface for communication with the ship or aircraft tracking it, while sensors descend below the surface to a pre-determined depth. It then relays acoustic information back to those monitoring them.
- A group of sonobuoys deployed in a pattern can find out the exact location of the submarine which then can be tracked by other systems.
- Types of Sonobuoys:
- Active sonobuoys emit sound energy and receive the echo, based on which it transmits information back to the aircraft.
- Passive sonobuoys only listen for sounds coming from ships or submarines. They then transmit the sound back to the aircraft.
About P-8I Maritime Aircraft
- P-8 Poseidon is a maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft developed and produced by United States' Boeing Defense.
- The P-8I is a variant of the P-8 Poseidon specially designed for the Indian Navy.
- Utility: P-8I is responsible for coastal patrolling, maritime surveillance, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, search-and-rescue, anti-piracy, and supporting operations of other arms of the military.