Thales Awarded Sonar Contract for Astute Boat 4

(October 28, 2008) -- Thales UK has been awarded an important contract to supply the sonar system for the Royal Navy's fourth Astute-class submarine, Audacious.

The contract is to supply Thales' Sonar 2076 system to BAE Systems, to be fitted to the latest submarine during build at the shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness. The Thales contract is for a complete sonar system, comprising both inboard and outboard equipment (bow, fin, intercept and flank arrays) and the associated inboard processing hardware and software. The total value of this contract now stands at more than GBP18m.


Further deferred options are identified within the contract such as the Thin Flank Array and other options with key exercise dates. Close work continues with BAE Systems to place these on contract.

This latest contract success continues the evolution of the Sonar 2076 system, with the inclusion of the open architecture Stage 5 design and the new Thin Flank array, currently in a demonstrator phase. It introduces new cabinets, consoles and processing, which will be common across all of the combat system equipments and is a major step towards the Common Combat System.

Ed Lowe, Vice President of Thales UK's naval business says: "This contract brings together the two major developments that we have been working on for the past three years in the submarine business - Thin Flank array and Stage 5 inboard processing - and as such is a significant milestone for the company and the UK submarine enterprise.

"It reflects the hard work and dedication of our teams in Cheadle and Templecombe and also the support and cooperation we have received from BAE Systems and the Ministry of Defence."

Source : Thales UK