Indonesian Navy proposes acquisition of submarine monitoring system

The Indonesian Navy has expressed intent to acquire an undersea surveillance and monitoring system similar to the sound surveillance system (SOSUS) originally developed by the United States for tracking the movements of hostile submarines.

Speaking at a parliamentary hearing earlier this week, Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Muhammad Ali said that the service lacks the ability to monitor submarine activity within Indonesia's territorial waters, particularly the main maritime choke points in the Sunda, Lombok, and Makassar Straits.

Ali said that a fixed undersea surveillance system similar to SOSUS would enable the Indonesian Navy to conduct real-time detection and monitoring of submarines and unmanned underwater vehicles.

The proposal for acquiring such a system was recently submitted to the Indonesian Ministry of Defence and has even received Presidential support, Ali remarked.

The navy also intends to operate coastal stations to significant expand its surveillance coverage. The service's current modernisation plans require 35 such stations to be operational by 2044.

The Indian Navy also recently unveiled plans to deploy a network of underwater sensors to monitor the movements of submarines in the Indian Ocean.

The sensor network will cover critical underwater areas such as the waters off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Bay of Bengal, and the Ninety East Ridge that divides the Indian Ocean into its eastern and western halves.