Ultra Group’s Sonar-2150 passed sea trials for the Royal Navy

Ultra Group’s Sonar-2150 successfully completed its first-of-class sea acceptance trial onboard HMS Portland, the company announced on 30 July.

This achievement demonstrates the effectiveness of a new world-leading hull-mounted sonar, which seeks to boost the capability and pave the way for more performance proving activities later this year.

The trial lasted several days at sea, with the sonar detecting and tracking the “target.” Despite some challenging weather, the Ultra trials team demonstrated both active and passive performance in collaboration with Royal Navy personnel.

HMS Portland became the first ship to be fitted with Ultra’s next-generation Hull Mounted Sonar Type 2150 as part of a wider refit to the Royal Navy’s frigates.

About 2150 hull-mounted sonar:

The 2150 hull-mounted sonar, designed by Ultra, replaces the Sonar Type 2050, which has been in service with the Royal Navy since the 1990s. It incorporates a state-of-the-art user interface to improve operator effectiveness and usability.

The digital control of the outboard array minimises interference, reduces ship cabling requirements, aiming to maximise reliability, and extends array maintenance intervals. The sonar will be fitted to Royal Navy Type 23 frigates.

As part of its ‘Sea Searcher’ hull-mounted sonar range, Ultra has developed two smaller and lighter weight variants of the Type 2150 for naval vessels up to 1,000 tonnes and 2,000 tonnes, respectively.

With state-of-the-art in-board processing and innovative user displays, this family of sonar systems provides a powerful anti-submarine warfare capability for patrol vessels, frigates and other vessels worldwide.

Check out Naval Library App to learn more about the specifications of the different types of Sonars.