It's a foregone conclusion by most naval authorities they cannot live without sonar that kills whales. Why? Don't ask me. Supposedly every design engineer between here and Mars has tried to come up with something different.
In my opinion, they haven't tried hard enough. This is the administration that seeks to solve the Human Induced Global Warming issue through advanced technology. Where? It was 2002 when Bush ushered in the 'idea' of the hydrogen car and it's nowhere to be found now five years later.
If the USA can't find a way, through computer integration of replacing this sonar with a frequency that will not kill whales while still serving the purpose the navy seems to require for what they call national security then I don't know what country will. Why is it that other frequencies won't work and why does the US Navy continue to use frequencies that kill marine mammals. Oops, there goes another one. I suppose that is the way they see it. I find it remarkable to believe there isn't YET a different technology to deliver a stelt version of submarine radar more effetive than 'pinging' sounds that dates back to the earliest forms of submarines.
If we want a 'better America' with a chance to find 'better solutions' we need the leadership to take us there and we don't have it. The budgets for the USA military are astronomical and yet the USA Navy can't save whales. I sincerely doubt they will ever try unless it becomes a national mandate. Leaving the USA Navy to their own directives will never resolve the issues of marine mammal safety in regard to sonar.
Navy sub refit fails to save the whale Brian Brady
Westminster Editor
The Scotsman
28th September 2004
It was supposed to save the whale, but defence chiefs have admitted a supposedly ‘safe’ new £340m sonar system will continue to cause the deaths of the planet’s largest living creatures. Sonar systems used by the military are known to confuse whales, dolphins and other marine mammals, rendering them incapable of spotting underwater obstacles and beaches, resulting in many deaths and injuries. Reacting to growing public pressure, the MoD announced three years ago that a new system being designed for ships would be the first "whale-friendly" sonar ever created. But the MoD has now been forced to admit that the system - called Sonar 2087 - which will be fitted to all Royal Navy anti-submarine frigates within the next two years, is also a potential whale-killer. Thousands of whales, dolphins, porpoises and other similar species around the coast of Scotland and the rest of the UK, will continue to be incapable of detecting rocks or land, and many will be beached, if they come too close to British ships using the high-powered new system. Extensive tests on the system have established beyond doubt that Sonar 2087 "has the potential to be harmful to marine mammals", defence minister Lord Bach admitted last week....
..."I am proud to say that the Ministry of Defence takes very seriously its environmental policy, whether it relates to land, sea or air, and we certainly do so far as concerns this issue," he said. It is estimated that as many as 27 species of whales, porpoises and dolphins visit Scottish waters. Annually, around 400 of the marine mammals are beached, including some of the Moray Firth’s famous population of bottlenose dolphins. Earlier this year wildlife experts said they feared whales could be fleeing their breeding and feeding grounds off Scotland’s north-west coast because of low frequency activated sonar. American environmentalists recently urged their navy to take action, claiming that dozens of whales had beached themselves off Washington, Puerto Rico, the Canary Islands and Portugal during US manoeuvres. The MoD originally ordered six Type 23 anti-submarine warfare Dukes to be fitted with Sonar 2087 as part of a mandatory refit, at a cost of £160m, with the other 10 Type 23s in the fleet expected to use it to replace the old Sonar 2031. Despite the concerns and the mitigation measures, however, ministers have made it clear that the health of marine mammals would have to take second place to the defence of the realm. "Sonar 2087, which we hope to have in operation by 2006, is an absolutely essential requirement in continuing to ensure that hostile submarines are not a danger to our Royal Navy," Bach said.
Sonar Kills Whales, So What? (click here)
...One of the sonars in the Shoup's suite is unconfirmed as the SQS 53C, the same type implicated in the Bahamas multiple species stranding of 2000, and 2002's beaked whale strandings in the Canary Islands. The 53C uses a 0.5 second ping with a source level of at least 233 dB, repeated every 24 seconds at frequencies of 2.6 and 3.3 kHz. That description may not fit what was documented at the Shoup event; another sonar may be implicated....
Lockheed Martin Engineers Receive U.S. Navy Honor for Developing New Submarine Sonar System (click here)
...Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, Lockheed Martin employs about 135,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.
