Photos: 'Top Gun course' for submarine hunters

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) has showcased how top sonar operators are trained to find enemy submarines.

The Advanced Acoustic Analysis Course (AAAC) - commonly referred to as the "A" course - takes experienced sonar operators and aims to buff up their skills to enable them to make quick decisions when detecting and classifying underwater threats.

The sonar operators rely on visual and audio signals to work out where submarines may be lurking, by using a series of sonar signal displays and their ears.

Steve Street, training and publications officer at DSTL, said: "We cannot see a submarine but it will always make a certain amount of noise."

Street added there is "no substitute for the human brain" and, on a good day, sonar operators can even name the ship they are analysing.

The course typically runs for four weeks and consists of 20 to 24 students with the failure rate usually coming in at less than 10 per cent.

A sonar operator's shift can last up to eight hours, with operators typically sitting at their stations listening to the sonar signals for up to 45 minutes at a time.

Those trained on the course could be analysing sonar readings from aircraft, ships or submarines.

Pictured is the DSTL classroom at Farnborough where the training takes place.

Photo credit: Gemma Simpson