Kelvin Hughes to provide radars for Pakistan Navy submarines

Turkish defense company STM has contracted UK’s Kelvin Hughes for the delivery of its I-Band SharpEye Doppler submarine radar system for the Pakistan Navy’s Agosta 90B- class submarines.

Also referred to as the Khalid-class, the submarines are receiving the radars as part of their mid-life upgrade program that STM is undertaking under a contract from June 2016.

Working with STM, Kelvin Hughes said it would supply the SharpEye system to the first submarine in 2018.

Traditionally, submarines only tend to use radar for navigation when entering or leaving port, because high-power RF transmissions can compromise their ability to remain undetected when used in more open waters. The company explains however, with its low power, pulse Doppler transmission technology, SharpEye can provide a reduced probability of intercept which lowers the risk of the submarine being detected but without compromising the target detection performance of the radar.

KH said the transceiver can be located within the pressure hull, making use of the existing bulkhead infrastructure, antenna rotational drive and waveguide connections.

“We are delighted that the Pakistan Navy, a respected and long-standing customer of Kelvin Hughes, has chosen to take advantage of the performance and reliability benefits that our innovative SharpEye radar technology can now bring to submarine platforms,” Barry Jones, Regional Sales Manager for Kelvin Hughes, commented. “We’re looking forward to working with our project partner STM to jointly deliver SharpEye capability to the Navy and Khalid Class submarines”.

Kelvin Hughes also announced that it will be supplying radars for the Pakistan Navy’s 17,000 tonne fleet tanker launched by Karachi Shipyard & Engineering earlier this year. The company will be supplying I and E/F frequency Band Doppler radars as well tactical radar software and widescreen displays.