Pakistan Navy orders second Kelvin Hughes radar for submarine upgrades

The Pakistan Navy has awarded Kelvin Hughes another contract for the delivery of a SharpEye Doppler submarine radar system.

The order follows an earlier one, announced in February this year, and is part of the mid-life upgrade program of the Pakistan Navy’s Agosta 90B-class (also known as the Khalid class diesel electric attack submarines).

Working with Turkish defence contractor STM, the main contractor for the refurbishment program, Kelvin Hughes will supply the SharpEye system to the first submarine in 2018 and the second in 2019.

The upgrades are being performed at the Karachi Pakistan Naval Shipyard however specific details concerning each submarine in the program have not been disclosed.

The SharpEye I-Band (X-Band) radar transceiver for submarines is based on a downmast transceiver housed in an enclosure located within the pressure hull. The radar solution makes use of the existing bulkhead infrastructure in the pressure hull, removing the need to replace the antenna mast system by utilising the existing external antenna, rotational drive and waveguide connections.

Kelvin Hughes also manufactures and supplies a pressure resistant ‘AZL’ submarine antenna.

“We have a long standing relationship with the Pakistan Navy and STM and I am very pleased to be working with STM to supply the state-of-the-art SharpEye radar system to the Khalid class submarines,” Barry Jones, regional sales manager for Kelvin Hughes, commented.