SELF-DEPLOYING LARGE ARRAY STRUCTURES

A MAJOR PROBLEM FOR SURFACE SHIP ASW IS THE DETECTION AND LOCALIZATION OF QUITE ENEMY SUBMARINE TARGETS WHICH ARE OR MAY BE APPROACHING MISSILE-LAUNCH RANGE OF A BATTLE GROUP AND WHERE OWN-SHIP, SELF-NOISE OR SONAR CONDITIONS PRECLUDE THE USE OF SHIP SONARS. ONE TECHNIQUE IS TO DROP A PATTERN OF SONOBUOYS FROM LAMPS HELICOPTERS OR OTHER AIRCRAFT IN THOSE AREAS WHERE THERE HAS BEEN SOME INDICATION OF A POSSIBLE CONTACT. IT WOULD BE ADVANTAGEOUS IF A SINGLE BUOY COULD BE DROPPED, WHICH IN TURN WOULD DEPLOY A LARGE TWO OR THREE DIMENSIONAL ARRAY OF SUFFICIENT APERTURE TO PERMIT THE COMPUTATION OF TARGET BEARING, DEPTH AND PERHAPS RANGE WITH USEFUL ACCURACY. THE PURPOSE OF THE PROPOSED STUDY IS TO GENERATE A SCHEME OR SCHEMES FOR SUCH A SELF-DEPLOYING ARRAY WHICH HAS THE REQUISITE APERTURE AND STRUCTURAL RIGIDITY.