Upgrades to Aurora aircraft puts Royal Canadian Air Force on cutting edge of anti-submarine warfare

The silhouette of a nuclear-powered U.S. navy Los Angeles class attack submarine, its periscope slashing through the surface, was quickly spotted by the crew of a Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 Aurora maritime patrol aircraft during a five-hour mission south of the Hawaiian Islands over the weekend.

Within seconds of the discovery of the kind of boat that Tom Clancy made famous in the Hunt for Red October, the Nova Scotia-based turboprop swooped down to 100 metres above the ocean. The crew dropped several dozen passive and active sonar buoys as they circled near the target on a night when those in the air and at sea had the benefit of a dazzling full moon and a placid sea.

“We went out, hunted for it, found it, tracked it and did some simulated attacking,” said Maj. Angie Thomas who helped oversee the crew working a bank of sensors and radars.

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