Abstract: Aiming at the problems that the combat result of submarine is affected greatly by combat behaviors and that the new combat method is difficult to seek based on traditional index system method, a perceptual behavior decision method, which is used for optimum decision in the target search stage, is proposed based on the prediction of acoustic detectability of the submarine. Firstly, the influence of acoustic propagation environment, platform characteristics and combat behaviors on acoustic detectability is analyzed. On the basis, the formal expression of acoustic detectability is found and the real-time correctable prediction model is established according to the characteristics of influence factors. The prediction of acoustic detectability is realized by behavior driven. Secondly, the framework of perceptual behavior optimization and its specific optimization process are set up under the overall constraint. Finally, the proposed method is verified by the example of anti-submarine in important sea area. The results show that this method can effectively optimize the perceptual behavior in the target search stage.