Naval sonar ASW and mine hunting

Our philosophy is to create state of the art naval products based on our portfolio of available Commercial-Off-The-Shelf technology developed for subsea application in offshore, seismic and merchant marine. The Naval products take advantage of the rapid development and low cost production of the commercial products and adapting them to naval application and User requirements.

We make Military-Off-The-Shelf products out of world leading commercial technology, enabling us to provide high performance, well proven products made for harsh operation, at low cost.

Naval sonars product range

Our main product focus is on the following two areas:

Mine and obstacle detection and classification combined with navigation capability

• SA 9510S - A hull mounted active mine detection and avoidance sonar for submarines. The sonar is capable of detecting bottom mines, moored mines and floating mines, as well as other objects. It is specially designed to aid navigation providing depth information ahead and presenting sea bottom and obstacles in front of the submarine. Operating frequency is 70 to 100 kHz with detection coverage of more than 120 degrees horizontal and more than 90 degrees in vertical in a single ping.
• SA 9520 - A hull mounted active mine detection and avoidance sonar for Surface ship. The sonar has the same capabilities as the submarine version but has the option for the antenna to be installed on a controllable by tilt and train unit. This enables the sonar to look in any direction and creating full coverage and awareness of the surrounding water. The sonar can be combined with a high frequency classification sonar making it applicable for MCM operations.
• HISAS 1030 - HISAS 1030 is an interferometric synthetic aperture sonar system capable of providing very high resolution images and detailed bathymetry of the seabed. Originally developed for demanding military mine countermeasures (MCM) operations, where there is a need to detect and classify small objects on the seafloor in a challenging clutter filled environment. The sonar is installed onboard HUGIN, a medium sized KONGSBERG AUV.

Anti-submarine warfare for littoral waters

• SS 2030 – A hull mounted active anti-submarine warfare sonar specially designed for operations in shallow water. Design focus has been on creating a light weight, compact size and multiple frequencies designed for shallow water ASW that can be installed on virtually any ship types and sizes. The operating frequency is ranging from 20 to 30 kHz and the built in features are suited for shallow water operation. A passive mode where transmission is turned off is also available. Special features as computer aided target acquisition and sound propagation model are included. The beams are electronically steered in both vertical and horizontal direction and stabilised for ships roll and pitch.
• ST 2400 - A towed variable depth active sonar for anti-submarine warfare specially designed for operations in shallow water. The towed unit contains a fixed cylindrical array operating from 20 to 30 kHz encapsulated in a robust hydrodynamic body. The variable depth sonar is used when met with challenging environmental conditions, enabling ASW below layer and to place the sonar at beneficial depth depending on the sound speed profile. The system has been designed to be light weight and compact in size in order to be installed on virtually any ship type and size.

Many navy references

Our naval sonars are specially designed for littoral and shallow water scenarios, and are successfully in operation by a number of naval customers throughout the world. We are proud to have supplied more than 300 sonars to navies around the world.

Commercial Off The Shelf technology (COTS)

We are a major suppliers of high quality marine electronics in the world, with products ranging from chart plotters for yachtsmen, to triple redundant dynamic positioning systems for oil drilling rigs, sonars and instrumentation systems for scientific research vessels. The products are designed, tested and produced to be reliable over long time in a tough marine environment. Our specifications for environmental conditions are based upon DNV and ABS specifications. Stronger requirements for vibration and shock can normally be met. The commercial, scientific and offshore user requirements and expectations are high, and the products are refined before launching and over time to make them free of design defects. A worldwide service network is in operation 24 hours per day to respond quickly in case of problems.

We are of the opinion that many of the Kongsberg Maritime "COTS" products are well suited also for naval vessels, and in several cases of equal or better quality than custom design and the products that is derived from other large military suppliers.

Military Off The Shelf (MOTS)

Our naval department is specialised in supplying military equipment to the need of the navy, including testing to military standards, extensive documentation, special testing and demonstration, bespoke software as well as integration and interfacing of the systems. This means that we are able to provide our commercial products like mulitbeam- and singlebeam echosounders, positioning systems, communication systems, etc. as MOTS to navies.