General Dynamics Canada has announced it has been awarded an engineering support contract by SAAB AB for the continued integration of the Hydra multi-sensor sonar system on the Swedish navy’s newest Visby-class corvettes. General Dynamics Canada is a premier provider of defence electronic systems and is a leading systems integrator of complete command, control, communication, computing, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions.

The Hydra multi-sensor sonar system provides both anti-submarine warfare and mine counter-measure capabilities to the Visby-class corvettes, both in open ocean as well as in the Baltic, which is considered to be among the most acoustically challenging waters in the world. The system integrates multiple subsystems into a single, streamlined architecture that supports variable depth sonar, hull-mounted sonar, towed array sonar, remotely operated sonar, own noise monitoring, sonobuoy receivers, underwater environment monitoring and three-dimensional underwater terrain modeling.

With the Hydra system, operators can efficiently manage multiple concurrent functions and transition through customizable user-friendly interfaces to collect and process a variety of tactical and environmental situational awareness intelligence data, enhancing the efficiency and flexibility of the platform.