Thales Underwater Systems

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1 History
2 Products
3 Sites
4 See also

Thales Underwater Systems (TUS), formerly known as Thomson Marconi Sonar, is a defence manufacturer specialising in Sonar for Submarines and Surface Ships, as well as Airborne sonar systems, and communications masts and systems for Submarines.

TUS has sites in the United Kingdom, France, and Australia, and is a subsidiary of Thales Naval, which in turn is part of the Thales Group.

[edit] History

Thales Underwater Systems has a complicated history, as it is formed of a number of smaller companies.

This section looks at Thales Underwater Systems Ltd (UK company). Thales Underwater Systems in the UK comprises (2005) the Cheadle Heath (in Stockport) and the Templecombe (Somerset) sites. As part of a French company there are other parts of TUS in France at Brest and Sophia Antipolis (Nice).

The Cheadle Heath site was set up in 1977 as an overspill of the Ferranti Military Systems Division based at Wythenshawe. It comprised groups covering Training Simulators, Communication Systems and a small Underwater Systems Group (30 people) which was engaged in the development of displays and computer interfaces for sonars 2016 and 2020. This was work which was not wanted by the main parts of Ferranti based at Western Road, Bracknell. The main parts of these sonars were developed by the Plessey Marine Research Unit at Templecombe, Somerset.

The sonar work at Cheadle increased and took on digital signal processing, algorithm development, display generation, simulation, displays (raster-scan TV displays and LCD), mass storage, computer interfaces and highways. Takeovers of other companies gave expertise in sonar arrays. The Sonar Systems Group increased in size and successfully bid against Plessey for parts of sonar 2054. Other parts of the Ferranti empire started to crumble, aided by the merger with International Signal (James Guerin) in 1987 to form Ferranti International. Ferranti eventually went bankrupt (again) in 1993, however the small, idiosyncratic Sonar Systems Group had become a successful standalone business. A Joint Venture Company was formed between the Ferranti liquidators (49.9%) and Thomson-CSF (50.1%) to form Ferranti Thomson Sonar Systems. The Ferranti share was bought out by GEC-Marconi to become Thomson Marconi Sonar Systems.

The Templecombe part of TUS started life as Plessey Marine, before becoming Plessey Naval Systems, producing Sonar and other related systems.

This was taken over in 1989 by GEC-Marconi, the defence arm of GEC, to eventually form Marconi Underwater Systems.

After the sonar systems businesses of Thomson-CSF and Ferranti were merged (creating Ferranti Thomson Sonar Systems), GEC-Marconi acquired Ferranti's share, and the company became Thomson Marconi Sonar (TMS). Marconi Underwater Systems became a part of this company.

In 1999, as part of the merger of Marconi Electronic Systems (as GEC-Marconi had become), and British Aerospace, the new BAE Systems held 49.9% of TMS, which it sold to Thales (the new name for Thomson-CSF) in 2001. Thomson Marconi Sonar was renamed Thales Underwater Systems.

[edit] Products

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Dipping sonar for Merlin Helicopter
Minehunting Sonars 2093, 2022 Mk2 and 2193
TSM 5424 Petrel sonar - a multi function mine and obstacle aviodance sonar for surface ships
S Cube SSK - a new sonar control system for submarines
Sonar 2087
Spherion medium frequency ASW sonar
Sea Defender torpedo detection sonar
Sonar 2076 - very sophisticated sonar suite capable of detecting and tracking small targets from hundreds of miles away. Equivalent of 60,000 PCs processing power.