Countries developing Underwater LIDAR imaging systems for rapid wide-area anti-mine and anti-submarine operations

Currently, the most widely used technology to detect underwater objects  is sound navigation and ranging (SONAR), because acoustic waves can  penetrate the water depths to the bottom of the sea. SONAR also suffers from unwanted multipass echoes that are due to reflections from the surrounding terrain. Thus, high-resolution underwater imaging using SONAR is difficult.