- SSTD
Disambiguation: Also used for the
Space Science and Technology Department of theUnited Kingdom 'sScience and Technology Facilities Council .The British Surface Ship Torpedo Defence (SSTD) system entered into service with the British
Royal Navy in 2004. The system is produced byUltra Electronics 1 and is known as S2170 by theRoyal Navy and as Sea Sentor in the export market.The system consists of
* an acoustic passive towed array
* a towed acoustic countermeasure (flexible)
* a single-drum winch
* a processing cabinet
* 2 display consoles
* 2 expendable acoustic device launchers (1 port, 1 starboard)
* 16 expendable acoustic devices (8 in each launcher)The system is a foot-print compatible1 replacement for the
AN/SLQ-25 Nixie system previously installed on Britishwarships 2The passive acoustic towed array is specifically designed to detect torpedoes (unlike traditional ASW sonars) and has additional in-built non-acoustic as well as Acoustic Intercept sensors. Through advanced AI processing it is able to generically identify torpedoes as well as classify specific weapon types/ modes and undertake threat evaluation and posturing analysis. The system provides tactical advice dependent upon the specific threat weapon/ mode/ posture to maximise vessel survivability, which typically involves vessel manoeuvres and also includes the deployment of countermeasures. The countermeasures - both towed and expendable variants - lure the threat away from the vessel in a soft-kill manner.
Ultra Electronics also produces a hard-kill variant known as the TRAPR DCL system currently under development for the
US Navy .External links
* 1 http://www.ultra-scs.com/pdfs/pdf_seasentor.pdf Sea Sentor Brochure
* 2 http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/FactSheets/EquipmentFactsheets/Sonar2170SurfaceShipTorpedoDefencesstd.htm UK MOD project status
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