Surface ships fitted with towed and hull mounted array sonar give naval forces the capabilities necessary to counter modern underwater threats. Thales developed the world’s first operational low-frequency active and passive towed array sonar systems, and today its state-of-the-art hull-mounted systems (HMS) and Variable Depth Sonar (VDS) solutions can be found on vessels in fleets from South Africa to Norway, from far east Asia to the UK or France..
Customers benefit from Thales’ leadership in the design and development of active and passive sonar through its CAPTAS (Combined Active/Passive Towed Array Sonar) family of variable depth sonar. Operating at low frequency, CAPTAS exploits favorable propagation conditions in the deep sound channel. Advanced signal and data processing enables CAPTAS to deliver tactically significant submarine detection ranges with low false alarm rates even in shallow coastal waters.
Complementing CAPTAS is Thales’ family of high-performance, medium frequency hull-mounted sonar. Modular, these multifunction undersea sensors typically combine Self Defense torpedo detection and with mine-like object/obstacle avoidance capability, in addition to powerful Anti Submarine Warfare detection.