According to a press release published on October 21, 2020, the Australian Minister for Defence Industry, Melissa Price announced the Defence Innovation Hub will be investing $28m in the Australian industry. Of the nine contracts being funded, Thales Australia received $3.8m to develop our sovereign Blue Sentry autonomous system.
So, what exactly is Blue Sentry? It’s an autonomous team of Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) equipped for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and surveillance missions.
In basic terms - the Thales Remote Active Sonar Systems (RASS) array, consisting of towed active and passive sonar sub systems, as well as an autonomous data processing, recording and reporting system will be integrated onto Ocius Technology’s autonomous platform – the Bluebottle.
Thales has been working collaboratively with Ocius since 2013 on the role of the USV in ASW and, according to Thales Research and Development Project Lead, Daniel Dent, the Bluebottle is a standout USV platform for long-term maritime mission endurance....MORE
