Tim Fish
French defence company Safran has been selected to provide search optoelectronic masts for the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) Collins-class submarine Life Extension (LOTE) project.
RAN’s Head of Naval Capabilities, Rear Admiral Peter Quinn, speaking at the Indo-Pacific 2022 in Sydney AMR As part of a plan to ensure there is no submarine capability gap between the Collins class and the introduction of new nuclear-powered submarines, the former will undergo a spiral of upgrades to add new capabilities and avoid obsolescence.
He said Safran had been working on the mast system for some time because it was supposed to be a common system with the now-defunct Attack-class ships, but RAN still wanted to retain that capability for the Collins class.
A Safran spokesman told AMR The company was “recently” selected as a “preferred supplier” and will supply its Series 30 SOM system to replace the existing CK043 search periscope mounted on board from Pilkington Electronics (now Thales UK).
Raytheon Australia is the combat systems integrator for the LOTE project, and Safran will work under their leadership as the prime contractor for this part of the Collins-class submarine.
The Series 30 SOM is a non-penetrating opto-mast system that has the advantage of using only one cable to pass through the subsea hull. It is used for surface searches, including navigational security and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). It also has the ability to conduct communications and electronic warfare. It features four digital photoelectric channels using a cooled high-definition 3-5 micron thermal imager, low-light TV channels, a high-definition color camera, and a laser rangefinder.
The periscope can perform panoramic detection and recognition with a fast look around function to reduce detection.
The spokesman said the contract is expected to be signed this year.
