Joint deployment of undersea sensors for enhanced maritime security at perimeters and choke points

Abstract

The US Coast Guard, US Navy and other maritime and port security units routinely conduct undersea inspections for a variety of mission requirements. However, current inspection techniques only sample a small number of vessels transiting into US waters, resulting in limited situational awareness in the undersea domain and creating an opportunity for introduction of threatening devices into harbors where they can inflict great harm. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Detachment San Diego, NUWC Division Newport, and Battelle have developed and demonstrated undersea systems that can be combined to address several of these mission requirements in a joint deployment, facilitating more efficient and complete harbor security. This paper will provide an overview of each system component, including hardware descriptions and test results to date, and discuss deployment Concept of Operations (CONOPS) at a candidate location.