UDT 2016: Quick out of the TRAPS
May 29, 2016
Authored by: Richard Thomas, Shephard Media's Maritime Security.
As military sub-surface activity in northern European waters reaches heights not seen for more than a generation, one of the main focuses for those attending the UDT conference and exhibition in Oslo next week looks like being towed array capabilities.
Curtiss-Wright recently told Shephard that their Defense Solutions’ INDAL business will highlight two of its undersea warfare products at the show; the Submarine Towed Array Handling Systems (STAHS) and the Towed Reelable Active Passive Sonar (TRAPS), the latter in collaboration with GeoSpectrum Technologies.
Both systems are expected to be announced as having been selected for separate procurement and development programmes in the near future.
The STAHS system features technology that effectively deploys the array without any potentially harmful handling of the sensitive towed array cable. As the handling gear on a submarine is located outside of the ships pressure hull, the need for reliability is crucial as navies look to find methods to deploy and subsequently stow the array.
‘Our flushing system has a infuser feature that delivers significant performance improvements and reliably gets the array out at the initial stage of deployment before drag takes over,’ said Andrew Roy, senior business development manager, INDAL.
‘This technology has been well-proven on the [Royal Navy’s] Astute-class submarine and INDAL expects to be able to soon announce that STAHS been selected by a leading prime contractor for a next-generation submarine,’ he added, without disclosing any further details.
Within Europe a number of countries are looking at a new generation of sub-surface capabilities. Norway have down-selected two companies for their Ula-class SSK replacement programme.
Meanwhile, TRAPS has been designed as a lightweight sonar system for smaller surface vessels and USVs and marketing at emerging and small navies. The reelable design features a vertical active source combined with a passive towed array, all handled on a lightweight winch system, according to company material.
