Under an agreement signed with France’s Naval Group, Thales is to supply the sonar suite for the Orka-class submarines to be deployed by the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) under the Replacement Netherlands Submarine Capability (RNSC) programme, Thales announced on 19 March 2025.
Four Orka-class boats built by Naval Group will replace the RNLN’s current fleet of four Walrus-class submarines, which entered service in the early 1990s.
The contract will provide sets of a comprehensive sonar suite featuring high-performance acoustic sensors, including bow, flank and obstacle-avoidance sonars, an intercept array, a passive towed-array sonar, an underwater voice communication system, an echo sounder and signal processing racks.
According to Thales, this suite of equipment “will provide an unprecedented panoramic view of the underwater environment, making it possible to detect, locate and classify all types of threats at short, medium and long range across a wide range of frequencies”.
The programme will also allow Thales to consolidate its engagement with the naval defence ecosystem in the Netherlands within the framework of the RNSC programme, as illustrated by a recent contract with the Dutch company Optics11 to use its OptiArray technology in the passive towed-array sonar.
“The highly capable Thales sonar suite was a key component of Naval Group’s bid for this programme and will make a significant contribution to the acoustic superiority of the Orka-class submarines,” Sylvain Perrier, RNSC programme director for Naval Group, was quoted as saying in a Thales press release. “We know we can count on Thales to meet the demanding requirements of the COMMIT [Dutch Materiel and IT Command] and to work hand in hand with Dutch industry on the RNSC programme.”
Sébastien Guérémy, vice president of Thales’ Underwater Systems business, added, “We are proud that Thales’ advanced sonar suite has been selected to equip the Royal Netherlands Navy’s Orka-class submarines. This partnership will enhance the technological superiority of the Dutch armed forces and reflects our ongoing commitment to providing innovative, dependable solutions in support of the defence capabilities of allied nations.”
