Firepower Unleashed

Jaison Deepak

Any captain of a warship will say that the threat he most fears is that of a stealthy submarine lurking underwater, observing and later unleashing its firepower of torpedoes or anti-ship missiles. Submarines are particularly dangerous in tropical waters such as the Indian waters where thermoclines can reduce SONAR detection ranges, and it thus needs the combined efforts of a spectrum of sensors and weapons deployed from surface ships, helicopters, aircraft and UAVs.

Hull Mounted Sonars are fitted to the Hull of the Warship and can be operated round the clock without requiring launch time. Although they are usually larger, can be high powered, their performance is somewhat restricted by the ship’s own noise and by the fact that they operate at a constant depth. They also have higher Electromagnetic Interference/ Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMI/EMC) requirements to be able to work with the ship’s electronics. The Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) has built the Hull Mounted Sonar Array-Next Generation (HUMSA-NG) with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), which has produced it.

It is an Active cum Passive Integrated Ship Sonar system which can transmit and receive sound waves or listen to enemy sound signatures. It equips the latest Indian Navy frontline warships including P-17 frigates, P-15A destroyers and P-28 corvettes. HUMSA-UG is an upgrade of the legacy HUMSA sonars by adding new receiver electronics and an ultra-cool power amplifier with an aim of reducing the maintenance by addressing the obsolescence issues. The lab also developed a compact integrated sonar system to equip vessels of low tonnage such as patrol vessels and coastal vessels. Thales has in its portfolio the BlueWatcher compact low medium frequency active p