Outlined in the proposal is a commitment to transfer skills and knowledge to Australian industry for the manufacture of world leading torpedo defense technology. This sharing of expertise and experience will not only contribute to Australia’s defence landscape, but boost local manufacturing.
“Naval Group’s mission in Australia is to strengthen the country’s sovereign defence capability, by sharing innovative technology and techniques that have been developed and refined over our 400-year history,”
Francois Romanet, Naval Group General Delegate for Australia
CANTO® represents a breakthrough in the field of anti-torpedo defence. The counter-measure is unique as it applies the ‘dilution/confusion’ concept to defend a vessel. This involves generating a high-level, 360-degree acoustic signal as soon as it enters the water to jam the full frequency range of an attacking torpedo. CANTO® then generates hundreds of false targets, forcing the attacking torpedo to recalibrate and reposition an attack vector. This overwhelms the torpedo’s sonar and data processing, ultimately depleting its energy reserves.
CANTO® is compatible with over 50 platforms, and is used in conjunction with the CONTRALTO® reaction module from Naval Group. Once a threat is detected, CONTRALTO® suggests an optimized evasive maneuver along with CANTO® countermeasures. This makes it one of the most successful systems in defeating torpedo attacks.
The dual role of dilution/confusion also means CANTO® requires less space when compared with separate systems that fulfill a single purpose. This is incredibly valuable for submarines, which have a limited number of launch tubes and countermeasures to face subsequent attacks.
“The excellent performance, interoperability and application of CANTO® makes it a valuable defence asset. The French Navy has already selected CANTO® for its SSN submarine and surface fleet. Partnering with local industry will further strengthen our partnership, and with Australia’s defence capabilities,” said François Romanet.
Update 07/19/2019
Existing customers for CANTO include the French Navy (launch customer for the Contralto S for the Barracuda type SSN), Brazil (for the Scorpene class SSK), Egypt (for its Gowind corvette) and two more undisclosed customers.
Besides supplying the CANTO counter-torpedo system for the Attack-class submarine (SEA1000 program), Naval Group is eyeing Royal Australian Navy’s surface ships as well: The Type 26 Hunter-class frigate (SEA5000 program) and the Hobart-class AWD (SEA4000 program) upgrade program.
