Kraken’s AquaPix in mine warfare exercise

Kraken Sonar Systems’ AquaPix synthetic aperture sonars (SAS) will take part in a mine warfare exercise to be conducted by the Belgium and Netherland navies in mid-June.

The exercise, to be run by Belgium's Directorate General of Material Resources - will see a variety of unmanned systems carry out mine countermeasure trials off the Belgian coast. Underwater and surface unmanned vehicles from a number of companies will take part in the exercise, and Kraken is to provide its AquaPix Interferometric SAS (INSAS) and AquaPix Miniature Interferometric SAS (MINSAS) to equip three different systems.

Belgium and the Netherlands are carrying out a programme to replace their Tripartite class minehunting ships built in the 1980s. Six new ships are to be acquired along with unmanned mine countermeasure assets to improve operational performance and increase personnel safety.

AquaPix provides detailed seabed images with a constant resolution better than 3cm x 3cm out to a range of 300m from each side of an underwater vehicle (600m swath). It can also produce 3D bathymetric data with a resolution better than 25cm x 25cm out to full range while delivering very high depth accuracy.

Karl Kenny, Kraken president and CEO said: ‘During the trials, our engineers will be at sea supporting both our AquaPix INSAS and AquaPix MINSAS systems. The Belgian and Netherlands' navies project to replace their mine countermeasure capabilities creates a significant opportunity for Kraken's sensors and underwater robotic systems. This project provides guidelines for future mine countermeasures capability and opens the possibility for other countries to join the Belgian-Netherlands initiative.’