SACLANT ASW Research Centre
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The SACLANT ASW Research Centre was the predecessor to the
Establishment of the centre
In the mid-1950s a series of events challenged the balance of power between the United States and the Soviet Union. In 1955 the Soviet Union, for the first time, launched a ballistic missile from a submarine. Two years later, on 4 October 1957, the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched into orbit by the USSR. The U.S. started its own submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) programme under then Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Arleigh Burke, with the mission to launch a 1,500-nautical-mile (2,800 km) Polaris missile from a submarine. The initial goal was to have this operational by 1965, but Soviet activities resulted in an accelerated schedule to deliver the first submarine by December 1959 and the second vessel by March 1960.
To restrict movement of the USSR submarine fleet and to guarantee safe movement of their own, the United States and NATO understood the need for better scientific knowledge of the undersea environment. Many nations had active research laboratories in this field, but there was need to improve synergies among the nations to ensure the ability of NATO to counter threats in the underwater domain. Members of the U.S. Naval Research Advisory Committee paid a visit to numerous nations—Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom—and reached an agreement to work together by pooling scientific information and expertise in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) research. Italy offered to provide a facility within its naval base in La Spezia. Climatic considerations, which allowed experiments to be carried out for most of the year, and the location, which provided easy access both to deep and shallow waters, favoured this solution.
The
The early years
SACLANTCEN's mission was to conduct research and provide scientific and technical advice in the field of anti-submarine warfare to SACLANT. It could also be called upon to assist NATO nations in this domain. To carry out its mission the centre chartered an old freighter, the Aragonese, which was quickly transformed into a research vessel, giving the organisation a seagoing capability. In 1964 the 2,800 tonne Maria Paolina G. was chartered, replacing the aging Aragonese.
In the early years the scientific programme was mostly centred on
The centre in the 1970s
SACLANCEN was a pioneer in the use of underwater buoy connectors, which led to a significant increase in the efficiency of data recording operations. At the same time, progress in electronics and the close links to the U.S. resulted in the updating of digital computing equipment. Activity at-sea remained pretty intensive, and in 1974 the Manning, a T-Boat built for the U.S. Army and previously used by Columbia University for oceanographic work, joined the SACLANTCEN fleet on loan from the U.S. government.
In 1975, the scientific side of SACLANTCEN was reorganised into two main divisions: the Environmental and Systems Research Division and the Operational and Analytical Research Division. After more than a decade mostly dedicated to deep waters, shallow waters became a new priority as submarine activity in those areas was increasing and submarines were becoming quieter and available to more nations. To address shallow water problems, new factors had to be taken into consideration such as the type of ocean floor, sound reflection, reverberation, and clutter.
This led to further research on oceanography and acoustics with experiments carried out mostly along the Ligurian coast, while in the meantime new instruments were studied and developed for collecting data in shallower waters, although the improvement of data collection in deep waters continued. In the late 1970s, towed arrays made their presence in La Spezia. The centre started testing the first experimental hydrophone linear array built by
For towed arrays to be effective, the noise problem of the towing vessel needed to be solved. In 1984 the keel of a new research vessel specially designed for SACLANTCEN was laid at the Muggiano Fincantieri shipyard, a few hundred meters away from the centre. The design priority for this 3,180-tonne ship was the reduction of ship radiated noise. This goal was accomplished with a double hull and a specially designed propulsion system. The NATO Research Vessel (NRV) Alliance was launched in 1986 and commissioned in 1988, replacing the Maria Paolina G. Since then, it has retained its reputation as one of the quietest ships afloat, spending an average of 170 days a year at sea supporting the centre's experiments.
The centre, 1980 to 2003
In 1986 a five-year survey of the Greenland, Iceland, and Norwegian Seas (GIN Sea) was started. New technologies were adopted to be able to collect data over long periods of time in a harsh environment, with problems ranging from thermal shock on sensors to difficulties in lowering the buoys into the water. A total of 31 buoys with 118 sensors were deployed to record data over one year. With a loss of buoys below 5 percent, this was a notable achievement in oceanographic research. While this experiment was underway, on 9 November 1989 the Berlin Wall came down, marking the end of the Cold War. The centre's name change in 1987 to the SACLANT Undersea Research Centre clearly indicated the shift in focus from "Anti-Submarine Warfare" to "Underwater" research. The Iran–Iraq War was a major event during that period; it led to the so-called "Tanker War", where oil tankers moving through the Persian Gulf were threatened not only by Iranian air and small boat attacks, but also by some 150 sea mines of various types, mostly vintage, laid by Iran.
Mine countermeasures
During this period, the decrease in NATO's strategic interest in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) was matched by a corresponding increase in the significance of
Anti-submarine warfare research
Submarine detection and classification remained on the research agenda, although the focus shifted gradually toward shallow waters. Low frequency active sonar (LFAS) research started in the early 1980s with a project to verify the feasibility of towed sonar systems, analysing typical performance-linked parameters such as propagation loss, signal coherence, noise, reverberation and target strength. SACLANTCEN links to military organisations were vital in obtaining support of naval submarine services, and numerous experiments were carried out in the Mediterranean. The shift in focus from deep to shallow waters came with the advent of small diesel-electric submarines that can operate close to home base. Detection in shallow waters is difficult due mainly to signal interferences from reverberation and clutter. New research programmes at the centre investigated how to reduce the number of false alarms caused by reverberation, directional interference and target-like clutter when LFAS was used closer to the coasts. Fixed feature removal methods were investigated, while studies on detection optimisation and information extraction were also carried out to automate and improve LFAS performances in shallow waters. Research was also conducted on static deployable sonar systems.
Marine mammal programme
In May 1996, SACLANTCEN carried out a shallow water acoustic classification experiment in Greece, in the Gulf of Kyparissiakos, with the source level towed by the NRV Alliance. During that time about 14 Cuvier's beaked whales stranded along the coast. As a result of the incident, SACLANTCEN hosted a bioascoustic panel with independent scientists to investigate the cause of the stranding. At that time, no clear-cut conclusions were made, as it was impossible to establish or to exclude a direct link between the experiment and the stranding. A recommendation was issued for environmental assessment procedures to be implemented, and this led in 1999 to the Sound Ocean Living Marine Resources (SOLMAR) programme at the centre. Since SACLANTCEN's location, La Spezia, is close to the Ligurian Sea International Marine Sanctuary whose northern boundaries are the coasts of Italy and France while its southern limit is Corsica, the first aim of the SOLMAR programme was to monitor and acquire information on marine mammals living in that area. This was carried out both visually and acoustically during a series of annual sea trials known as SIRENA.[2]
Controlled exposed experiments have also been undertaken to verify any possible relationship between noise and marine mammal behaviour. Oceanographic measurements were also carried out to better understand the environment where the marine mammals live. Following other strandings in 2000 and 2002 in areas where NATO exercises were conducted, high priority was assigned to mitigate risks to marine mammals during NATO naval exercises. In 2002, the SOLMAR programme became the Marine Mammal Risk Mitigation (MMRM) project. Activities continued focusing on the optimisation of the risk mitigation package designed by SACLANTCEN, which includes passive acoustic monitors, a predictive habitat model, a sound propagation model, a website with planning and training aids, and a guiding policy for the use of active sonar in experiments. The package was updated following each cruise, which contributed to increased knowledge of marine mammal behaviour. A Human Diver and Marine Mammal Incident Action Team manned by personnel from the centre was established and stood ready to deploy in case of stranding or diving incidents, although no strandings have been linked to SACLANTCEN operations since the SOLMAR/MMRM programme was established. One of the values of the project was that an increasing number of independent scientific and environmental organisations began to cooperate with the centre in this research area.
Military oceanography (MILOC)
Although both theoretical studies and MILOC operations partly covered shallow waters, such as the Shallow Meadow campaign in the Baltic in 1983–1987, most of SACLANTCEN activities were initially dedicated to deep waters, oriented towards antisubmarine warfare and the protection of sea lines of communication. The output of those activities were new concepts for the improvement of sonar or the development of underwater detection systems. MILOC activities also resulted in oceanographic and acoustic databases that supported modelling, resulting in improved exploitation of operational sensors.
In a post-Cold War environment, crises tended to be regional, taking place in unknown coastal waters, with operations involving joint and combined forces. MCM and ASW activities related to those operations required different knowledge of the related environment, silent diesel-electric submarines and mines becoming the dominant threat. Higher resolution models were needed as well as
The
The need to measure ocean properties in the shortest possible time with expendable equipment led to the development of the Shallow-Water Expendable Environmental Profiler (SWEEP). SWEEP, which could operate in waters up to 100 meters deep, was moored to the bottom and at pre-programmed intervals would surface to transmit physical data collected on the bottom and while traveling to and from the surface. However, SWEEP was not usable in areas with trawler fishing activities. SACLANTCEN merged the features of Barny and SWEEP and developed the Shallow-water Environmental Profiler Trawl-safe Real-time (SEPTR), a buoy similar to Barny but with a profiler similar to the one used on SWEEP, which would surface at fixed intervals. Tested in 2000, SEPTR was available for use in the ASCOT01 sea trial and updated versions are still in operation today.[4]
Operations research and analysis
With the increase in mine-related activities, SACLANTCEN also took part in the development of MCM Exclusive Planning and Evaluation Tool (EXPERT), led by NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A). MCM EXPERT helps commanders optimise mine search operations. Similarly the Electronic Minefield Referee (EMIR) tool developed by the operational analysis group was widely used in NATO and national exercises. Experts from the Centre often deployed onboard MCM vessels during exercises to compare predicted performances with actual minehunting results. They also provided advice on how to best use the knowledge on environmental conditions to clear more mines.
Staffing and facilities
The number of scientists at the centre was authorised at a maximum of 50, hired mostly on limited-term contracts. This rotation of personnel enabled a regular inflow of new ideas and, over time, resulted in the establishment of a network of close contacts between SACLANTCEN and the national research centres as well as many universities and private companies, to which many scientists returned after their work at the centre. The scientific outputs from the centre were especially valuable to the smaller NATO nations, whose research capabilities were behind those of the larger nations, thus helping to reduce the gap between their institutions and those in the U.S. and U.K., for example. Scientists were supported by administrative and technical teams, in particular, an engineering department that provided the means to carry out the experimental work needed to develop or verify scientific theories. SACLANTCEN also features a unique facility in Europe: the Oceanography Calibrating Laboratory, created in the early 1980s, which provided instrument calibration according to the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) standard in support of the centre's activities as well as for most NATO navies and research laboratories.
Most of the research activities required the support of ship assets managed by the SACLANTCEN Ship Management Office. At the turn of the 21st century, the T-Boat Manning had been in service for 45 years. The advantage of operations carried out with a silent ship were highlighted by the activity of
Into the new millennium
During the
Notes
- ^ T.D. Allan, "Memories from the Sixties," Oceanography, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 18-23, June, 2008.
- ^ K. Ryan, "The interaction of marine mammals and active sonar", Oceanography, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 38–43, June 2008.
- ^ A. Trangeled, F.H. Vink, A. Berni, "Data communication and data fusion in rapid environmental assessment: state of the art," RTO Meeting Proceedings MP-049: New Information Processing for Military Systems, May, 2000.
- ^ S. Fioravanti et al., "Overview of the SACLANTCEN family of trawl-resistant ADCP: evolution from self-recording to real-time profiler configuration", Bollettino di Geofisica Teorica ed Applicata, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 59–67, March 2003.