Atlas Elektronik building sonar for Thai frigate

ULM, Germany, Dec. 18 (UPI)

Sonar systems for a new frigate being built for Thailand by South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering are being supplied by Atlas Elektronik GmbH.

Atlas Elektronik, headquartered in Germany said the contract from Daewoo is for the supply and integration of a bow sonar and a low-frequency active towed array sonar system.

The two will be delivered in early 2016. The monetary value of the contract, however, was not disclosed.

"Together, the two systems offer active and passive sonars for the detection, tracking and classification of underwater vehicles, such as submarines, torpedoes and unmanned underwater vehicles," the company said. "In addition, these sonars are able to detect and classify small speedboats, divers or floating obstacles, e.g. containers or tethered mines."

The bow sonar to be supplied provides a surveillance radius of up to nine miles, while the towed array sonar operates in the low-frequency range from about 2 kHz and permits observation of the sea space at ranges of more than 37 miles, the company said.