Thales France Opens 100-Meter Sonar Manufacturing Facility in Australia

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 26, Thales Group of France inaugurated a new sonar manufacturing and maintenance facility in Rydalmere, western Sydney, Australia, with the opening ceremony presided over by Australian Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy. The facility was jointly invested in and built by Thales Australia and the Australian Federal Government. Located at the Thales Australia Centre of Excellence in Acoustics, it features a 100-meter-long production hall and undertakes manufacturing, integration, and maintenance tasks for towed array sonar systems, serving Australian Navy vessels and autonomous maritime platforms.

The new hall covers the end-to-end manufacturing process for towed array sonar systems and can produce underwater acoustic equipment suitable for submarines, surface vessels, and unmanned maritime platforms. Related manufacturing tasks include conventional shipborne towed arrays as well as thin-line towed arrays for small unmanned platforms. The facility also undertakes maintenance and technical support work for acoustic systems, providing equipment manufacturing and follow-on services for both the Australian domestic market and export markets.

The first batch of priority service targets includes Australia's Hunter-class frigate program, for which the factory will supply towed array sonar systems to support long-range submarine detection and tracking. The factory will also undertake manufacturing and maintenance tasks related to the sonar systems of the Collins-class submarines, continuing the submarine acoustic equipment program jointly developed by Thales Australia with the Royal Australian Navy and Australian defence research agencies.

For unmanned maritime equipment, the factory will produce the thin-line fiber-optic towed array sonar required for the BlueSentry autonomous surveillance system. This system integrates fiber-optic acoustic detection equipment with unmanned maritime platforms as part of Australia's next-generation autonomous maritime surveillance capability. The new facility will also undertake local overhaul and maintenance of sonar equipment, reducing the reliance of shipborne acoustic systems on overseas maintenance.

Thales plans to rely on this facility to add dozens of direct engineering and advanced manufacturing jobs in western Sydney, and to carry out supporting production and services through Australia's local supply chain.