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Naval Defense Industry News - UK, Estonia |
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Thales Awarded Contract for Estonian Defence Forces Sandown-class Minehunter
Upgrade |
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Following
an international competition, Thales has been awarded the role of prime
contractor in the upgrade of three Sandown Class Single Role Minehunters
for the Estonian Ministry of Defence. Thales will be the Prime Contractor
on behalf of the Estonian MoD, with responsibility for the revised vessel
design, equipment/system specification and procurement, platform and
system integration, shipyard management and all test, trial and acceptance
events. |
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ENS Admiral Cowan lead vessel of the Estonian Navy Mineships
Division and also the first of the three modernised Sandown class minehunters.
(picture: Thales)
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Thales will also supply the ships’ mission
package which will be delivered with full operational capability in
2019. The upgrade mission package includes new navigation systems, the
Sonar 2193 wideband hull mounted sonar, the M-CUBE command and control
system (C2) and a fleet mine warfare data centre.
Commander of the Estonian Navy, CPT (N) Sepper stated “Background
activities to upgrade the Naval Mine Counter Measure (NMCM) capability
of the Sandown class commenced during the initial procurement phase
of the vessels. I am delighted to see that we are now moving on to the
execution phase.” He went on to say “The current upgrade
programme provides the Navy with the opportunity to extend its conventional
NMCM capability, based on proven technological solutions and tactics
into the next decade. This upgrade programme also provides a valuable
and much needed extended timeframe to analyse the future capability
requirements and readiness of possible technological solutions that
would eventually replace the legacy systems”.
This upgrade builds on the naval architecture and engineering expertise
already established through the Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carrier
and the Lithuania Hunt Regeneration contract. The work has been led
from Thales’s facilities in Cheadle and Templecombe, supported
by Babcock Marine Systems in Rosyth.
The two former RN Sandown-class vessels – HMS Sandown and HMS
Inverness – were decommissioned and sold to Estonia in 2006. The
vessels were re-named ENS Admiral Cowan and ENS Sakala.
As part of a programme to return the two ships to operational service,
Thales originally signed a contract in 2006 to provide operational support
to the ships in service and upgrades to Thales UK’s highly-successful
Sonar 2093 system.
Sonar 2093 is a variable-depth sonar system and is designed for the
detection and classification of bottom and moored mines. It is optimized
for littoral (coastal) and open-ocean waters and is effective against
all known mine types.
The system is in service with the RN’s remaining Sandown-class
MCMVs, and existing export contracts include Japan, Australia, Saudi
Arabia, Turkey, Italy and the Republic of Korea.
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