• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Astute submarine gets clear vision from Thales as optronics masts are installed

11 September 2007

A multi-disciplined team of Thales engineers is working to complete both the installation of the masts and the integration with the boats highly advanced combat system. This will be followed by a series of rigorous and complex test procedures aimed at proving the equipments performance and successful integration with other mission critical boat systems.

Each boat has two optronic masts, which are unique in each having 3-axis stabilised sensors including thermal imaging and high-resolution colour TV sensors. Advanced stealth features, combined with a true quick-look-round capability, provide enhanced ship safety, navigation, surveillance and combat information, enabling the Astute-class submarines to reach a new level of operational capability.

The optronic mast system was designed and built in Glasgow, and is the result of a 10-year, multi-million pound investment programme aimed at producing the next generation of submarine visual sensor systems. It replaces conventional hull-penetrating optical periscope systems with a non-hull penetrating, electronic imaging system. An electronic link from high-resolution cameras in the mast's head shows a picture of the above water area on screens in the submarine's operations centre. This design increases flexibility in boat design, improves the submarine's ability to remain stealthy and improves navigational and operational safety.

Alex Cresswell, Managing Director of Thales's Land & Joint Systems business in the UK says: "The installation of the optronic masts onboard HMS Astute will provide the boat with a visual system of unprecedented capability and is a fitting tribute to our relationship with the Royal Navy, a relationship now in its 90th year."

Elsewhere in the country Thales UK is involved in providing other sensors to the Astute submarine programme, including electronic warfare systems developed and supplied from Crawley, West Sussex, and sonar systems designed and manufactured from Cheadle Heath, Cheshire and Templecombe, Somerset. Together, these sensor systems provide the ‘eyes and ears' of the submarine, making it a highly capable warfighting platform.

The Astute attack submarines, of which HMS Astute is the first to be launched, will be the biggest and the most stealthy submarine ever operated by the Royal Navy and are being built by prime contractor BAE Systems.

About Thales

Thales is a leading international electronics and systems group, addressing defence, aerospace and security markets worldwide. Thales' leading-edge technology is supported by 22,000 R&D engineers who offer a capability unmatched in Europe to develop and deploy field-proven mission-critical information systems. To this end, the group's civil and military businesses develop in parallel and share a common base of technologies to serve a single objective: the security of people, property and nations. The group builds its growth on its unique multi-domestic strategy based on trusted partnerships with national customers and market players, while leveraging its global expertise to support local technology and industrial development. Thales employs 68,000 people in 50 countries with forecast 2007 revenues in excess of €12 billion.

Thales UK is a major electronics and systems group serving defence, aerospace, security and services markets. Thales employs 9,000 staff in the UK, based at more than 50 locations. In 2006 Thales UK's revenues were over £1 bn.