Britain upgrades Ukrainian Sandown minesweepers

The British defence industry will upgrade the sonar on two Ukrainian Sandown minesweepers.

Here's What We Know

Tenders for preparatory work to upgrade the sonars have been posted on ContractsFinder. These are Sonar 2093 Wideband sonar systems developed in the 1980s to search for mines at various depths.

Sonar 2093 is a multi-frequency, variable depth system that allows the transceiver module to be lowered to a depth of 200 metres. This helps to overcome the temperature layers of water and effectively detect objects. It is likely to undergo a standard upgrade, which has been carried out by the UK Navy since 2018.

The upgrade, developed by Thales UK, includes broadband pulse compression technology that increases the sensitivity of sonars. This enables the detection of the latest low-signature mines at greater distances, while reducing the impact of reverberation and noise.

Ukraine received the Sandown minesweepers as part of the Maritime Partnership Memorandum between a consortium of the British defence industry and the Ukrainian Navy. The former HMS Ramsey and HMS Blyth served in the Royal Navy for more than 20 years, covering 175,000 and 185,000 miles respectively. They took part in operations in the Middle East and NATO exercises in Northern Europe and the Mediterranean.

Ukrainian crews were trained on these ships in 2022-2023, and in January 2023, they went to sea for the first time under the Ukrainian flag. In June 2023, minesweepers with Ukrainian crews took part in the Sea Breeze exercise in the UK, where they practised mine countermeasures.

Source: Contractsfinder