Turkish delight for Ultra

Ultra Electronics has been awarded a €3m contract to supply its Sea Sentor Surface Ship Torpedo Defence (SSTD) system to the Turkish navy.

One system with support will be provided for the Turkish navy’s MILGEM ship programme. Havelsan awarded the contract to Ultra on behalf of the MILGEM consortium.

The Sea Sentor system detects and locates incoming torpedoes, gives tactical advice on ship movement and can produce decoys or defeat oncoming torpedoes.

It consists of a towed array that is discharged from a winch positioned at the stern of the vessel and streams in the sea, and includes a flexible towed body acoustic decoy and a passive acoustic sensor. The sensor tracks incoming torpedoes, which are diverted away from the vessel by the decoy, and there are also expendable acoustic decoys that can be launched from the vessel’s port and starboard launchers.

Middlesex-based Ultra has also supplied SSTD systems to the Royal Navy, but there will be three main adaptations made to the system according to the Turkish navy’s requirements.

In the adapted system, remote operation of the winch is possible from the bridge, there will be additional sonar displays for the operator interface and a configured interface will allow the acoustic decoys to be programmed while in the launcher.

‘This is a significant contract as it is the first export sale of Ultra’s SSTD system. I understand this contract to be the first significant sale by a UK defence company to Turkey since 1999,’ said Douglas Caster, chief executive of Ultra.