This had crossed my mind recently when thinking about Australia and nuclear submarines: it's a little surprising that they haven't worked out ways to see further into the oceans yet, at least deep enough to detect submarines. I mean, they do all this sophisticated stuff to look inside buildings with cosmic muons now. Is there any chance of that being usefully used in the oceans?
Anyway, a report in the Guardian says that, yeah, to a large extent (although it is very short on details) the oceans may be "transparent" to submarines by mid century.
The Australian National University’s National Security College report Transparent Oceans? found that transparency is “likely or “very likely” by the 2050s, a decade after Australia’s new fleet of nuclear-powered subs is due to enter service.
A multidisciplinary team looked at new sensor technology, underwater communications and the possibility of tripwires at choke points. They also examined new ways to detect chemical, biological, acoustic and infra-red signatures, finding that even with improvements in stealth submarines will become visible.
I haven't got time to look at that link yet, but maybe later.
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This is why all government policy must be integrated. So our fishing policy should be augmented enlightened hunter-gathering. Giving a massive boost by way of floating artificial reefs to create habitat for sea life. One particularly loveable leftist scientist who championed nuclear and artificial reefs comes to mind here.
Well thats an integration of food security, environmental policy, export policy, jobs policy ....... AND DEFENCE. I appreciate our guys who write these defence white papers. Paul Dibb and that new transvestite. These people are quite intelligent. But I've forgotten more about holistic policy thinking than those guys will ever know. Our submariners need to learn how to hide behind our artificial reefs and the booming oceanic life cycles they will inspire.
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