The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word ASDIC
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More clues leading to the result ASDIC
- Anterior part of cochlea on bats aids sonar
- Supermarket bringing in charge for a detection device
- Location finder, like the Even Shorter OED?
- Submarine detector sounds like small boy
- Worked mostly in army unit on Sonar
- Echo sounder takes net revised distance
- Spies about to steal extremely sophisticated device to detect submarines
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "Echo sounder" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case echo sounder = asdic.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.