Protection and Projection
SEAFOX Mine Disposal System
- Prime contractor
- Selected for UK Royal Navy mine disposal system
- Teamed with ATLAS Elektronik and Babock
- UK manufacture and support
Seafox inspection vehicle
“Ultra’s 'waterfront presence' has put it in a position to take responsibility for all aspects of the SEAFOX’s through-life inventory management.”
Seafox tank trial against a tethered mine
Seafox approaching a tethered mine during open ocean trials
Partnering For Success
The SEAFOX programme is testament to the importance which Ultra Electronics attaches to technology transfer and partnering. Teamed with Atlas Elektronik and Babcock Engineering Services, we were selected in 2005 as prime contractor for the delivery of SEAFOX to meet the Royal Navy’s requirement for a new one-shot mine disposal system.
Already proven in operation Telic during the Iraq conflict, SEAFOX is an expendable remotely-operated underwater vehicle which uses a shaped charge warhead to neutralise the target mine. Operated from a shipboard console, with communications from the console to the vehicle sensors via a fibre-optic cable, SEAFOX uses its own onboard guidance and navigation system to acquire and prosecute the target.
Operating under a £35m contract, we manage the entire SEAFOX warstock, take responsibility for 16 ship installations, and provide 10 years of contractor logistic support. Transfer of technology from Atlas, the vehicle design authority, to Ultra for UK manufacture plus ship-fitting and logistic support from Babcock provides a tailored combination of complementary skills and disciplines focused to deliver an outstanding service to the Royal Navy consistent with the Defence Industrial Strategy – transfer of technology whilst achieving sovereign capability.