A team of developers from Ukraine presented in the UAE a prototype of a submarine that can launch torpedoes and can be used as an unmanned vehicle.
At the IDEX-2023 exhibition, which began on February 20 in the UAE, the company Highland Systems, founded by a team of developers from Ukraine, for the first time presented a prototype of the futuristic stealth submarine “Kronos”. It was already informed in detail about this submarine equipped with torpedoes from the Leonardo company and remote control. Later Defence Express talked with the head of the Highland Systems company Oleksandr Kuznetsov.
– Oleksandr, at the exhibition in the UAE, you demonstrated the prototype of Kronos submarine for the first time. Tell me, is there potential interest in your project from customers?
– Yes, there is. We already have the first customers, one of them is from Saudi Arabia; he plans to use the Kronos submarine to work on main pipelines: maintenance, inspection, transportation of necessary cargo and divers to their destination.
The next orders are already coming from the military from other countries. They are primarily interested in our submarine as an unmanned platform that has a high payload and can be equipped with various types of weapons, such as light torpedoes from Leonardo.
– How real is Ukraine’s interest in carrying out combat tasks in the Black Sea?
– Quite realistic, given its advantages, which I told you about earlier. I would like to add that Kronos is made of a special composite material that can withstand high pressure and has a high degree of signal absorption. When moving, this submarine does not create circular vortices. Thanks to this, our submarine is really inconspicuous and it will be difficult to see it underwater.
But Kronos itself can see a lot of interesting things thanks to night vision cameras and cameras with a 360-degree viewing angle. The submarine is also equipped with two sonars, VLF, WHF, UHF communication systems. Besides, the submarine has a new electronic periscope that allows everyone inside the submarine to see everything that is happening on the surface.
To summarize, as a result, the customer – if we are talking about the military – gets a functional solution for a number of tasks, a full-fledged independent vessel that does not need a carrier ship and can be used in both manned and unmanned mode.
– At the exhibition, you demonstrated the prototype of your submarine. What are the future plans?
— We plan to build the next Kronos submarine with extensive use of 3D printers, and the tests will be conducted with the participation of representatives of the UAE Navy command.
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