India reached another milestone when the first indigenous composites bow mounted sonar dome was dedicated to the nation by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar during DefExpo 2016 on Tuesday in Goa. The sonar dome will be delivered to Mazgaon Docks, Mumbai for use in the warships of Indian Navy.
A sonar is a very critical component in a navy warship as it acts as the underwater eyes and ears. All anti-submarine warfare (ASW) ships have a sonar array below the waterline to track movement of hostile objects.
Sonar domes cover the sonar arrays and protect the electronics and sensors. The sonar dome has to be structurally sound as well as acoustically transparent.
The sonar dome has been designed by Research & Development Establishment (Engineers), a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratory based in Pune and manufactured by composites manufacturing company Kineco Ltd, Pilerne, Goa.
With the indigenous sonar dome India joins a select group of nations which have the capability of realising large composites structure with multi-functional requirements, complex geometry and high structural rigidity with acoustic transparency.
This was possible due to the Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) process technology with built-in process monitoring capability, to ensure manufacture of a quality product, developed at R&DE(E), DRDO, Pune.
Senior DRDO officials say the success in manufacturing the sonar done will now pave the way for realising more ambitious naval structures such as entire ship hulls as well as land based and aerospace applications.
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