BAE Systems and Thales signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the DSEI 2025 defence exhibition in London on 11 September that marks a new phase in their long-standing collaboration on submarine sonar capabilities.
In relation to that MoU BAE Systems, which builds the Royal Navy’s submarines, has proposed the appointment of Thales as the pan-flotilla Main Sonar Design Authority and Integrator (MSDA&I).
“Building on more than two decades of close collaboration, BAE Systems and Thales have developed a streamlined delivery construct that accelerates the deployment of advanced sonar solutions,” Thales stated in a press release. “Sonar products and components will continue to be sourced from across the UK sonar enterprise on a ‘best athlete’ basis, reinforcing the sector’s sovereign strength and industrial resilience.”
Under a GBP 330 million (EUR 381.4 million) contract awarded in February 2020 Thales was tasked with equipping the Royal Navy’s future Dreadnaught-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines with the latest version of the Sonar 2076 system, which is currently in service on the Royal Navy’s Astute-class nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs).
Beyond these boats, however, will be the future SSN-AUKUS submarines that will replace the Astute-class SSNs as well as Australia’s Collins-class diesel-electric boats, which will be delivered to the Royal Navy in the late 2030s and the Royal Australian Navy in the early 2040s respectively.
Thales is thus working on further enhancements to the Sonar 2076 system. Stuart Hodgson, the anti-submarine warfare product line manager at Thales, told ESD at DSEI 2025 on 10 September that much of this work centres around enlarging the Sonar 2076 system’s bow, fin, flank and towed arrays to extend their range and sensitivity. Hodgson added, however, that work is also being down to efficiently process the “huge amounts of data that’s happening continuously” as the system operates. This, he explained, revolves around the system “doing things that the human operator cannot do” and “making sure the operator’s working optimally over time”, with concepts such as haptic feedback from the system being studied.
Under the combined underwater warfare systems enterprise Thales and BAE Systems employ around 500 people in the UK. With the advent of the SSN-AUKUS submarines that number is set to grow beyond 660.
