(Boursier.com) — The Dutch government agency COMMIT (Dutch Command Materiel & IT) and Thales have signed a contract for the production and supply of an AWWS (Above Water Warfare System) fire control system and a set of sensors.
These systems are intended to equip the new anti-submarine warfare frigates which will be built by the Damen shipyard for the Belgian and Dutch Navy. It follows the development contract signed in 2018.
Estimated at several hundred million euros, this contract illustrates the solid position of Thales in the world, in terms of technologies of fire control and sensors for the naval field. The contract will be executed by the Thales center of excellence in Hengelo (Netherlands).
Thales will supply the AWWS fire control system, which is currently the most effective solution to respond to any type of threat, whatever the environment. The AWWS system is a state-of-the-art suite that enables the aircrew to counter and neutralize the most complex hyper-velocity saturation attacks, through the analysis and continuous optimization of the tactical environment and the deployment appropriate resources. The new sensor suite leverages the latest Thales technology, inherited from the APAR B2 X-band radars and SM400 B2 S-band radars, integrated into a single radar system capable of dynamic task reconfiguration .
In addition to the AWWS fire control system, Thales provides the Mirador Mk2 electro-optical observation and tracking system, the Gatekeeper Mk2 electro-optical observation sensor, the SCOUT Mk3 naval surveillance radar with low probability of interception, as well as an adapted logistic support program.
The first ship will be operational in 2029. The anti-submarine warfare (ASM) frigates will replace the multi-purpose frigates of the Belgian and Dutch Navy Karel Doorman class, which are reaching the end of their operational life.
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