"At the International Maritime Defense Exposition in Singapore, Thales announced a new underwater unmanned vehicle (UUV) package for mine countermeasures. Such tactics make mine clearance slow at best, and they require substantial numbers of very expensive mine-hunting craft. An alternative network centric approach would be to use remote sensors to map out the minefield with sufficient precision that guided weapons could destroy it mine by mine. The side-looking sonar offers reasonable range and resolution. Thales adds a second sonar using synthetic aperture techniques to form a high-resolution image of the probable mine-like object."