Atlas Elektronik Wins Middle East Contract For Submarine Hunting Autonomous Systems

Atlas Elektronik UK (AEUK) has won a first order to provide its maritime autonomous mission system for an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) application.

As part of this contract, for an undisclosed naval customer in the Middle East, the company will deliver two optionally manned ARCIMS ( Atlas Remote-Combined Influence Minesweeping System) vehicles.

Configured with an ASW surveillance mission module, the autonomous systems are able to detect, classify, and locate underwater threats such as submarines, mini-submarines, and diver delivery vehicles.

The evolution of submarines, their proliferation and the low cost availability of mini-submarines has led to a growing threat particularly in the littoral.

The ASW surveillance mission module will be used by an undisclosed Navy to patrol their littoral waters and conduct persistent monitoring of underwater activity for early detection of potential threats.

Dr Antoni Mazur, Managing Director of ATLAS ELEKTRONIK UK said "With this contract win AEUK will successfully integrate our sophisticated ASW mission system onto the modular platform which is ARCIMS.”

This demonstrates AEUK's ability to develop, supply and support cutting-edge, innovative technology for an increasing number of defence customers, Mazur added.

The ARCIMS Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) is a Military Specification, operationally-proven, Maritime Autonomous Mission System. The affordable 11m vehicle has a common platform design and is highly customizable for multiple mission roles. It is easily transportable by road, sea or air for rapid deployment from Naval Bases or strategic operating locations.

The mission system integrates the most compact of the ATLAS family of variable depth sonars (VDS) onto the ARCIMS platform offering a flexible, agile and affordable solution.

The Active/Passive VDS is optimised for operation in challenging shallow, warm-water environments to provide highly-capable detection of underwater threats to coastal regions.

ARCIMS has a highly capable command and control system that is able to conduct a range of mission profiles, whilst feeding back target data to the mission commander.