An exercise contact does not necessarily reveal how a submarine would sound on operations. Stealth aircraft can carry devices that enlarge their radar returns during training, and submarines can use equipment that makes them noisier for the same reason. The added noise puts a submarine crew at a useful disadvantage while masking the boat's true acoustic signature. Intelligence analysts must therefore treat a collected exercise profile as possible deception rather than an unquestionable wartime fingerprint.
Notable Point · 33:29-34:23
Exercises can conceal a submarine's real acoustic signature
Learn why a navy may make a submarine deliberately noisier during exercises rather than expose the sound it would present in war.