Ocius to integrate ThayerMahan, Thales sonar systems onto Bluebottle USVs

Ocius' Bluebottle surveillance USVs in operation during a Royal Australian Navy (RAN)-led experimentation activity at Jervis Bay in 2023. (Commonwealth of Australia)

Sydney-based Ocius Technology is integrating sonar systems from Connecticut-based ThayerMahan and Thales Australia onto its Bluebottle unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) to enhance persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations.

Ocius announced on 25 August that it is procuring ThayerMahan's Outpost and Thales Australia's BlueSentry sonar systems, both of which feature fully retractable thin-line acoustic arrays (TLAs).

Ocius said it has contracted ThayerMahan for 40 Outpost systems to support the delivery of 40 Bluebottle USVs to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) under an AUD176 million (USD125.8 million) contract awarded to the company in March.

The company added that Outpost combines passive anti-submarine warfare (ASW)-capable towed sonar arrays with ThayerMahan's TransparenSea processing software, a data analytics platform designed to fuse acoustic information from multiple sources and generate actionable intelligence.

The system will form part of a distributed surveillance architecture to detect and track threats and deliver data to commanders, Ocius said.

The company added that BlueSentry will be installed on Bluebottle USVs already in service with the RAN and deployed in waters north of Australia for surveillance operations. Ocius has previously delivered 15 Bluebottles to the RAN, most of which support Operation ‘Resolute', focused on protecting Australia's borders and offshore maritime interests in partnership with the Australian Border Force.

Ocius said BlueSentry TLAs and associated acoustic processing software are being acquired for these platforms, although it did not disclose how many USVs will be equipped with the capability.