Scanmatic, a company based in Norway and specializing in surface and submarine acoustic solutions, showcased for the first time its new ‘Tordec’ acoustic torpedo countermeasure for surface vessels at UDT 2025 exhibition in Oslo.
Developed from 2022 as part of a concept study requested from the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (FFI), the Tordec is based on their existing Sondec submarine launched torpedo countermeasure already in service within the Royal Norwegian Navy and elsewhere. The solution is for now still in the qualification and trials phase, but the company already has some prototypes ready.
In addition to the ammunition itself, Scanmatic has been requested in the frame of the concept study to develop a pneumatic launcher in order to investigate if pneumatic launch could be a cost-effective alternative compared to pyrotechnic launch, task completed in 2022. However, the company decided to pursue the development to make it also compatible with standard NATO 130mm munitions launchers making it as versatile as possible with a view on export opportunities. The qualification test launches from the latter occurred in fall 2024.
Scanmatic representative Sondre Myhre told Naval News: “This was to safeguard that the Tordec TCM could be launched both from existing and future 130mm launchers, as well as with our own pneumatic launcher.” He added: “The solution of adding pneumatic launchers onboard also enables that more of the existing 130mm launchers can be used for anti-air and anti-missile systems, thereby increasing the overall ship defense system in both domains.”
To pursue ahead, Scanmatic told Naval News they hope to obtain a contract from the Norwegian MoD in order to step up to the next phase which is to qualify their solution in live operational context from next year, 2026, to proceed then to a full production scale. For 2025, the Norwegian company keep pursuing trials on both the Tordec ammunition and the launchers, the focus being on investigating how Arctic and High North conditions affect pneumatic launch systems.
In parallel of this development, Scanmatic boosts its business opportunities and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with French company Safran in 2024 to potentially equip their decoy launchers – the NGDS – with Tordec.
“This collaboration aims to provide a robust and future-proof ship defense system by integrating Safran’s trainable NGDS launchers with Scanmatic’s Tordec torpedo countermeasures within a Joint Concept” said Sondre Myhre.
