Keating: Sonar restrictions hinder readiness

[unhappycamper]

Keating: Sonar restrictions hinder readiness
By Chris Amos - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Feb 5, 2008 20:01:04 EST

The Pacific Fleet’s senior commander told a military technology group Tuesday that restrictions on active sonar usage stymie the Navy’s efforts to prepare for a major emerging threat.

“Our ability to find and fix any submarine in the Pacific is not as robust or healthy as it used to be,” U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Timothy Keating said during a talk on the Pacific region at West 2008, a conference co-sponsored by AFCEA International and the U.S. Naval Institute. “If we can’t use the equipment that you give us, we could end up fighting with one hand behind our back. So we need active sonar in an appropriate manner. I have to have the assurances that the kids who are deploying now know what to do with sonar.”

Keating’s remarks came one day after a federal judge reinstated limits on active sonar usage off the California coast that require the Navy to not use active sonar within 12 miles of the Southern California coastline, to shut down active sonar when whales are spotted within 2,000 meters, and to power down sonar when ocean conditions cause sound waves to travel farther.

The reinstatement is the latest round in a yearlong legal fight between the Navy and the National Resources Defense Council, an environmental group that has sought to restrict Navy active sonar use in training exercises because of evidence that active sonar, which uses intense sound waves to allow a ship or submarine to detect adversary submarines, can kill or seriously injure large numbers of whales.

But Navy officials say restrictions imposed by U.S. District Judge Florence Marie Cooper will sharply reduce the effectiveness of active sonar training in exercises that measure the readiness of carrier and amphibious strike groups for deployment.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/02/navy_keatingsonar_080205/

[MADem]

1. Why can't we design a sonar that doesn't fuck up the whales?

Jesus, we can put a man on the moon.

It's just .... ABSURD!!!

I grew up in an America that could solve any problem, without going to a judge and WHINING to get your way.