Scientists in China have been researching stealth anti-submarine technology that is expected to reshape naval warfare.
A team of scientists at Northwest Polytechnic University (NWPU) in China has studied the principle of magnetic fields that appear due to waves when a submarine moves, the South China Morning Post reported on February 7.
The research focuses on Kelvin waves, which are V-shaped waves created by submarines and other moving vessels. These waves create a weak but detectable magnetic field when seawater ions, disturbed by the ship's motion, interact with the Earth's geomagnetic field.
An example of a Kelvin wave with a V shape visible to the naked eye as a US aircraft carrier moves
The study, published in a journal from Harbin University of Technology in China in December 2024, made the important observation that Kelvin waves cannot be completely silent and that analyzing the magnetic fields they emit is considered a way to detect stealthy vessels, including submarines. By running simulations, the team quantified how the magnetic signatures change based on the speed, depth, and size of the submarine.
If applied and developed in the military , this could become a technology that threatens the stealth capabilities of advanced submarines, especially the US Seawolf-class submarines.
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Equipped with advanced sensors, the submarines are quiet, fast and armed with modern weapons. The Seawolf class can dive to depths of up to 600 meters, compared to 300 meters for conventional submarines. The submarines use sound-absorbing tiles on the outside and shock-absorbing rafts inside, making them virtually undetectable to sonar, even at cruising speeds of 20 knots.
US Seawolf-class submarine USS Connecticut
Although it is not yet possible to prove that the latest research by a group of scientists in China can expose stealthy US submarines, the magnetic waves collected can contribute to a network of anti-stealth submarine technology, including acoustic arrays, satellites, drones and artificial intelligence algorithms.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/trung-quoc-phat-trien-cong-nghe-co-the-lat-mat-tau-ngam-tang-hinh-185250208110225905.htm
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