Sonardyne’s Vigilant Sonar design is chosen for the Diver Delivery Unit of SubSea Craft

Underwater obstacle avoidance technology from maritime defence and security specialist Sonardyne International Ltd. has been chosen for a new design diver delivery unit (DDU) being built by SubSea Craft, Sonardyne announced.

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

Using a compact and sophisticated bow-mounted transducer arrangement, Vigilant FLS displays water depth, sub-surface obstacles and features by creating an accurate 3D model of the underwater environment over a 90° field of view. The model is displayed relative to the underwater vehicle or surface vessel it’s fitted to, overlaid on standard charts in real-time, providing operators with an easily-interpreted topographical image of their route ahead.

Vigilant FLS provides this detailed and easy to interpret 3D bathymetry out to 600 m, as well as automated warnings of unseen collision hazards out to 1.5 km, supporting safe navigation for mariners, underwater vehicle pilots and unmanned surface and subsea systems.

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.