The towing stability of the towed body has an important impact on the data collection quality of the mounted sensors. In this paper, a novel deep-sea towed body control technology based on adjustable hydrofoils is proposed, and a hydrodynamic performance optimization and adjustment prediction strategy is established. Through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation, the effectiveness of the adjustable hydrofoils in improving the towing stability of the towed body is verified, and the hydrodynamic mechanism of the adjustable hydrofoils is analyzed. The influence weight and influence law of the hydrofoil structural parameters on adjusted variables are determined by sensitivity analysis and main effect analysis, and the hydrodynamic performance optimization of the adjustable hydrofoil is completed based on the fast elitist Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm III (NSGA-III). A bidirectional Gaussian Process (GP) prediction model with respect to the angle of attack of hydrofoils and adjusted variables is established. The prediction model shows high prediction accuracy and strong generalizability, with the prediction error within 4%. The effectiveness of the novel towed body control technology is verified through sea trials. This paper provides reference and guidance for the development and engineering application of the towed body control technology. •A novel deep-sea towed body control technology based on adjustable hydrofoils is proposed. The effectiveness of the adjustable hydrofoils in improving the towing stability of the towed body is verified, and the hydrodynamic mechanism is revealed, greatly improving the adjustment ability in pitch attitude and towing depth of the underwater towed system.•Through sensitivity analysis and main effect analysis, the influence weight and influence law of design variables on the optimization objectives are determined. The hydrodynamic performance of the adjustable hydrofoil is optimized based on genetic algorithm, and the results can be used to guide the initial design and subsequent optimization of the towed body with the adjustable hydrofoils.•Based on the established GP (Gaussian Process) prediction model, the bidirectional prediction between the angle of attack of the hydrofoil and the target adjusted variables of the towed body can be realized, greatly improving the intelligence of the towed body in the actual operation process.