Wavefront's Intruder Detection Sonar Chosen for Corvettes

Sonar technology company Wavefront Systems has been awarded a contract by global defense company MARSS Group to deliver its Sentinel IDS® (Intruder Detection Sonar) as part of MARSS’s NiDAR surveillance system for a fleet of Corvette-class vessels deployed in South-East Asia.

The NiDAR platform will fuse a range of new and legacy sensors – including Wavefront’s Sentinel IDS sonar, navigational radars and infrared cameras – into a single user interface, to provide a highly accurate and rapid means of detecting and classifying underwater and surface threats to the vessel, when in transit, at anchor or in port.

Sentinel IDS automatically detects, classifies and tracks underwater threats such as a diver, swimmer delivery vehicle or underwater drone. The latest generation IDS, Sentinel 2, adds advanced Simultaneous In-band Active and Passive Sonar capability (SInAPS®) to identify threats and protect assets, at ranges of up to 1500m for mini-subs and diver detection at up to 1000m.

The contract represents the first occasion when NiDAR will be operational on combat-facing vessels. The project, beginning this year, is expected to run until 2029, with the first vessel due for handover in 2026.