The Times April 9 2000 BRITAIN Hi-tech sensor sinks the navy's periscopes Adam Nathan IT IS time up, periscope. The Royal Navy's new generation of attack submarines will be the world's first to abandon the traditional naval periscope in favour of sophisticated "electronic eyes". No longer will submarine captains have to squint up a tube to see what is happening on the surface. Instead, they will use stealth imaging equipment that may not even need to break the surface of the sea to get a picture. The "optronic mast" uses television cameras, thermal imagers and sensors to transmit a 360-degree picture to the sub's commander. The pictures can also be transmitted to everyone who needs to see them by CCTV. They can be frozen, enlarged or replayed frame by frame. Thermal imaging will provide full vision at night. Most radically, the new equipment will make a snooping submarine almost impossible for any enemy to see. "It can do what's called a 'quick look round', where it pops up above the water, spins around for a few seconds and then gets back down again," said Tim Orr, of Pilkington Optronics, which makes the mast. "You don't need to have it sticking up on the surface while you try to find what you're looking for." The "quick look" produces a snapshot picture that can be analysed at leisure. The head - or the "eye" - of a conventional periscope has to be fairly large. The optronic mast, however, uses miniaturised cameras and sensors to make its head almost invisible to observers on the surface. "The head is shaped to reduce its wake in the water so a helicopter or whatever cannot see it," said Orr. "Also, the head is designed to be stealthy - it will not produce a large radar return." Orr added that the navy had been working on a capability to use the new mast without needing to break the surface at all. Further developments could see the eye of a submarine detached from the vessel altogether. Unmanned underwater vehicles transmitting images back to the mother ship and cameras launched out of the submarine's torpedo tubes have both been tested by the United States Navy. "Conventional 'clanky' periscopes take up a sizeable swathe of space in the submarine's control room. Non-penetrating masts change all that," said Rupert Pengelly, of Jane's Information Group. Pilkington, whose subsidiary, Barr & Stroud, has been making periscopes for 80 years, won a £20m contract for the masts after beating off foreign competition. Made in Scotland, the masts underwent testing on one of the navy's Trafalgar-class submarines and are being fitted to the new Astute-class hunter-killer subs, due to enter service from 2005. These submarines include extra-silent engines, a 50% higher weapon load and a "dry-deck shelter" for frogmen. "The submarine service is very pleased," said Commander Hugh Edleston, the navy's director of communications. "This mast is right at the cutting edge of technology and represents a key part of the Astute class's tactical system."
