Australian Mine Warfare Team 16, MCDGRP and DSTG staff operating the Bluefin 9 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) from a Mine Countermeasure Support Boat (MCMSB) during a Project Sea 1778 equipment application course at Pittwater, NSW. Image from Commonwealth of Australia, 2020. https://www.defence.gov.au/Copyright.asp

Marine technology company Sonardyne has announced that its Solstice multi-aperture sonar has been integrated into mine warfare command software used by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Through a collaboration with Australian defence software engineering company Solutions from Silicon (SfS), data collected by Solstice during mine counter measure (MCM) missions can now be imported, processed and displayed in the most recent release of the MINTACs (Mine Warfare Tactical Command Software) which is in service with the RAN.

Sonardyne’s Solstice is widely considered as a force multiplier for MCM operations, enabling substantially higher area coverage rates (ACR) using low-cost, low-logistics autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). It provides 200 m wide swath with an unrivalled 0.15° along-track resolution and consumes just 18 Watts, maximising vehicle endurance.

MINTACS provides the operator with the ability to not only read and display the Solstice data but also mark mine-like objects (MLOs) of interest and process the images with its powerful onboard automatic target recognition (ATR) capability. MINTACS is in service with host of countries around the world including the national navies of the UK, Australia, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, New Zealand and Sweden.

For more information visit www.sonardyne.com