Canadian Navy to deploy Aurora Towfish

International Submarine Engineering (ISE) has announced that it has received a contract from Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) that will see its Aurora Towfish deployed on the Royal Canadian Navy’s Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels. The system will be used to support mine detection missions and route survey operations.

According to the company, the Aurora towfish has been proven as a viable component of the Royal Canadian Navy’s Route Survey strategy, and ISE will provide two commercial off-the-shelf, high speed Aurora Towfish for the contract. The system will include modifications to integrate new sensors and navigation equipment, including an L3 Klein sidescan sonar, and an R2Sonic bathymetric multibeam echosounder.

The Aurora towfish is a towed underwater vehicle capable of carrying imaging sonars and other marine sensors, which can be easily changed due to the system’s modular design. It has been designed with a large, actively controlled main wing to control depth. The large downforce created by the wing reduces the cable scope and layback, particularly with unfaired cables, enhancing the positional accuracy of the towfish. It can operate at speeds of up to 12 knots.

In conjunction with the Dorado Semi-submersible Technical Demonstrator, Aurora has been used in multiple sea trials, demonstrations and evaluations since 1999.