TNI-AL SOSUS equivalent?

[Grey Havoc]

In a parliamentary hearing on April 27, the Indonesian Navy (TNI AL) revealed some of its modernization goals and critical vulnerabilities in the country’s maritime security.


TNI AL Chief of Staff, Admiral Muhammad Ali, stated that the service is currently unable to monitor foreign submarines’ activity within the country’s archipelagic sea lanes––which include key chokepoints like the Sunda, Lombok, and Makassar Straits––as it lacks fixed seabed underwater surveillance systems. Meanwhile, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) allows foreign submarines to pass through these sea lanes while submerged.

Hence, Admiral Ali stressed that the navy must acquire systems akin to U.S. SOSUS that would enable real-time detection and tracking of underwater objects, including unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). He noted that a proposal for acquiring such systems has been submitted to the Ministry of Defence and received presidential backing.

Additionally, the admiral outlined broader C4ISR modernization goals. By 2024, TNI AL aims to operate 35 coastal surveillance systems/sites, eight underwater surveillance systems, six fleet command and control centres, and one main/national-level command and control centre. Investments in long-range surveillance technologies, satellite capabilities, artificial intelligence, and advanced information fusion centres are part of the modernization goals.

[snip]

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-new...us-like-systems-to-detect-foreign-submarines/

 

[Scott Kenny]

Makes sense.

I'm kinda surprised that every nation with a coastline doesn't have a SOSUS array...

As an American I'm kinda opposed to things that don't let my submarines in to play wherever, whenever; but if I was Indonesia I'd be all over this.

 

[publiusr]

Here are some other technologies for spotting things underwater
https://phys.org/news/2025-05-deep-ocean-technology-images-lost.htmlFrom February 24 to March 4, researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) used the human-occupied vehicle (HOV) Alvin, and autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Sentry, both workhorses of the National Deep Submergence Facility (NDSF) underwater vehicle fleet, to capture up-close images of the more than 100 year-old wreck, located in approximately 400 meters (more than 1,300 feet) of water.

https://phys.org/news/2025-05-unexploded-munitions-seafloor.htmlHodges discussed the use of acoustics for corroded UXO recovery at the joint 188th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and 25th International Congress on Acoustics, held May 18–23.

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-05-algorithm-effect-underwater-scenes.htmlNow, a team from MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has developed an image-analysis tool that cuts through the ocean's optical effects and generates images of underwater environments that look as if the water had been drained away, revealing an ocean scene's true colors. The researchers have dubbed the new tool SeaSplat

liquid tractor beams
https://phys.org/news/2025-05-physics-advance-solid-liquid.htmlhttps://techxplore.com/news/2025-05-metamaterial-enables-remote-movement-underwater.htmlManipulating objects in water without touching them could make a lot of underwater work easier. It could also be used inside the human body, which is mostly water, for applications like remote surgery or drug delivery.