09 Desember 2011

Seafox Minehunting Drone (photo : Atlas elektronik)

Thailand Becomes the Tenth Seafox Customer

BREMEN, Germany --- Atlas Elektronik has won a new customer for SeaFox: With the Royal Thai Navy (RTN), yet another navy has decided to upgrade its minehunting capabilities with the Atlas mine neutralization drone. A respective agreement was signed recently.

Atlas will supply three mobile SeaFox systems with the corresponding number of SeaFox I units for inspection and training purposes and an initially small number of SeaFox C combat units for mine disposal. Further SeaFox C units are to follow over the next few years. The mobile SeaFox system is a completely autonomous system that allows the deployment of SeaFox vehicles with no dependence on shipboard facilities or equipment. This permits deployment of the SeaFox vehicles from various types of ships at any time, without the need to convert the vessels in any way.

The Royal Thai Navy currently operates four mine countermeasures vessels, all of which are equipped with mine warfare systems made by Atlas. The vessels to be modernized belong to two different ship classes. As the first step, the boats will be fitted with SeaFox units in the form of a mobile SeaFox system.

RTN’s decision in favour of SeaFox improves the position of Atlas for the upcoming modernization of the mine warfare systems on the four minehunters.

In total, ten navies have now decided to operate the SeaFox, making it the most successful mine disposal system in the world.

Atlas Elektronik Seafox system (photo : Naval Technology)

This fibre-optic guided, one-shot mine disposal vehicle SeaFox C is used for semi-autonomous disposal of naval mines and other ordnance found at sea. It is able to automatically relocate previously acquired positions of underwater objects within minutes with the integrated homing sonar. After relocating, these objects can be identified using the onboard CCTV camera and destroyed by the use of a built-in, large caliber shaped charge.

SeaFox I is a reusable vehicle for identification and training in the application field of mine hunting. In this vehicle the SeaFox C warhead is replaced by ballast weight. It is deployable from a wide range of carrier platforms, including dedicated MCM vessels, surface combatants, craft of opportunity, rubber boats and helicopters.

The Atlas Elektronik Group stands for maritime and naval solutions above and below the ocean surface. The company holds a leading position in all fields of maritime high technology, from command & control systems including radio & communication systems for submarines, surface combatants and mine warfare systems and ranging to heavyweight torpedoes, coastal surveillance systems and in-service support. Atlas has established a worldwide customer portfolio. The electronics specialist is a joint company of ThyssenKrupp and EADS and has a workforce of 1900 highly skilled employees.

(Atlas Elektronk/Defense Unmanned)

14 Juli 2011

Slocum Glider UUV (all photos : Defense Industry Daily/Hydro Interntional/AUVAC)

Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc., in Huntsville, AL recently received approval from the U.S. Navy to move into the Full Rate Production (FRP) Phase on the underwater Littoral Battlespace Sensing-Glider (LBS-G) Program. The first Full Rate Production option calls for the manufacture of 35 gliders, with additional options for 100 more, and a total contract value of $53.1 million if all options are exercised. US Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command manages the contract.

The Teledyne Team has already delivered 15 Low Rate Initial Production LBS-Gs to the US Navy’s Program Executive Office for C4I, under a December 2010 contract. That team includes Teledyne Brown (System Integration), Teledyne Webb Research in East Falmouth, MA (Slocum Glider development and production), and the University of Washington – Applied Physics Lab (Glider Operations Center software). Their 2m long design features a very innovative propulsion concept…

Teledyne’s glider uses changes in buoyancy to propel itself through the ocean. Instead of using mechanical means to change that buoyancy, however, it mostly relies on the ocean’s own temperature and pressure changes.

To sink, a valve allows oil from a flexible bladder on the outside to flow in, lowering volume but keeping mass constant. The glider sinks. Liquid wax inside internal tubes shrinks and solidifies as it descends into colder waters, letting oil in. The glider will continue descending to about 5,000 feet, then another internal storage tank filled with oil and nitrogen at 3,000 psi pressure is used to force oil back into the external bladder. As the now-buoyant glider heads toward the surface, its wings provide lift and forward motion, while sensors in the nose gather oceanographic data.

The glider will eventually surface about 5 km/ 2.75 miles away, where surface water temperatures of about 80F/ 27C liquefy the wax again. Liquids can’t really be compressed, so the liquid wax forces the oil and nitrogen back into the storage tank, resetting the gas “spring” for use in the next cycle. At the surface, the glider reports its position, transmits data via satellite, and receives any sent commands.

That propulsion system means the glider can be at sea for weeks at a time, allowing subsurface sampling on a regional scale. In 2009, a Slocum Glider managed to cross the Atlantic in 223 days.
The US Navy plans to use its fleet of deep and shallow water LBS gliders to acquire critical oceanographic data, which will improve positioning of fleets during naval maneuvers. It also has obvious uses for submarine hunting, and hiding, given the effect of temperature layers on sonar propagation.

(Defense Industry Daily)