SEA sells TLS to unnamed navy in the Americas

UK defensive systems maker SEA has sold its weapon-agnostic triple-trainable Torpedo Launcher System (TLS) into what the company said was a “multi-million pound Latin American frigate programme”.

While SEA would not reveal which frigate programme in Central or South America had taken the TLS, the system has a long history of operation in a number of navies around the world, including with the UK’s own Royal Navy where it has been in service for more than 30 years.

The TLS operates as both a close range and a rapid-reaction system. It is capable of firing a variety of NATO-compatible standard lightweight torpedoes, including the US Mk44, Mk46 and Mk54 torpedoes, UK Sting Ray, Italian A244S, French MU90 and the Korean Blue Shark.

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The modular design of the TLS means it can also be fitted into containerised mission modules, and SEA has sold it into several South American fleets in recent years.

In 2021, an unnamed South American naval fleet adopted the TLS. In 2022, the Philippine Navy added the system to two new corvettes sourced from South Korea, having previously used the TLS on some of its frigates.

In 2018, SEA announced it had also sold the TLS into three unnamed navies in Southeast Asia.

On the most recent TLS sale, Neil Herbert, VP for strategic accounts in Latin America at SEA, said: “This contract award represents a major step in our ambition to share the best of the industry’s technology with navies across the globe. The TLS will provide our end user with control of its ammunition supply chain and help future-proof the new frigates ahead of new weapon developments.”

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