Thales Upgraded Mission Package and Sonar

Babcock International announced on 31 January that it has completed work on the EML ADMIRAL COWAN, flagship of the Estonian Navy and part of its minesweeping flotilla.

The first of three SANDOWN-CLASS Estonian minehunters to undergo a capability upgrade at Babcock’s Rosyth shipyard in Scotland, the ADMIRAL COWAN underwent a five-month period in dock that was completed in December. The upgraded mission package included fitting the Thales Sonar 2193, an upgraded navigation system and the Thales M-CUBE command and control system – along with several other upgrades and defect rectifications. Twenty Babcock employees, including electricians, engineers, designers and glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) specialist shipwrights, undertook the work – working alongside Thales and members of the ship’s crew to deliver the upgrade.

ADMIRAL COWAN will now return to Estonia, prior to undergoing trials in the North Sea in May to demonstrate full operational capability. The second vessel, EML SAKALA, arrived at Rosyth sie in December to undergo the same package of work and will be followed by EML UGANDI in late spring.

“We were delighted to upgrade EML ADMIRAL COWAN for the Estonian Navy and look forward to carrying out the same package of work on her fellow minehunters, EML SAKALA and EML UGANDI [….] Our Common User Facility in Rosyth provides first-class docking and support facilities to undertake this kind of work and, with a skilled and experienced workforce on-site, we offer the complete package for visiting ships,” explained Managing Director of Babcock’s Rosyth site, Sean Donaldson.