Sonardyne Vigilant FLS for SubSea Craft

SubSea Craft has selected Sonardyne’s underwater obstacle avoidance technology for its new diver delivery unit (DDU).

Sonardyne’s Vigilant forward looking sonar (FLS) will provide hazard avoidance capability for the crew and embarked divers of the VICTA Class DDU when navigating on or below the surface.

Vigilant FLS displays water depth, sub-surface obstacles and features by creating a 3D model of the underwater environment.

SubSea Craft’s VICTA Class DDU offers the speed and endurance of a long-range insertion craft with the stealth and capacity of a swimmer delivery vehicle.

It can travel up to 250 nautical miles (nm) at speeds of up to 40 knots on the surface, whilst submerged it cruises at 6 knots, with a ‘sprint’ capability of 8 knots, for up to 25 nm to deploy and recover up to eight operatives (two crew and six divers) to their objective area mission-ready.

Tim Chicken, SubSea Craft’s chief commercial officer, said:

“Being able to detect – at range – navigation hazards, before they become a real threat, is mission-critical to the sort of operations likely to feature in VICTA’s playbook.

“Vigilant is the solution. With Vigilant integrated into VICTA, complete with its easy to use, intuitive graphic user interface, pilots can visualise the environment ahead to navigate safely and avoid obstacles ensuring safe insertion and recovery of operators, regardless of the mission.”

Ioseba Tena, global business manager for Marine Robotics and Defence at Sonardyne, said:

“Vigilant FLS offers naval forces with unprecedented subsurface situational awareness with unrivalled range.”

“With Vigilant integrated into VICTA, complete with its easy to use, intuitive graphic user interface, pilots can visualise the environment ahead to navigate safely and avoid obstacles ensuring safe insertion and recovery of operators, regardless of the mission.”