Article Posted on : - Jan 06, 2011

HMS Sandown (M101) launched in 1988

PARIS (BNS): Thales has signed a contract with the Estonian Navy to provide an additional 12 months of technical support and maintenance to two former Royal Navy (RN) mine countermeasures vessels (MCMVs) now serving with the Estonian fleet.

The two former RN Sandown-class vessels – HMS Sandown and HMS Inverness – were decommissioned and sold to Estonia in 2006. The vessels were re-named ENS Admiral Cowan and ENS Sakala.

Thales originally signed a contract in 2006 to provide operational support to the ships in service and upgrades to Thales’s highly successful Sonar 2093 system.

This new contract which was signed by the Chief of the Estonian Navy, Captain Igor Schvede, now extends the support programme until December 2011.

Sonar 2093 is a variable-depth sonar system and is designed for the detection and classification of bottom and moored mines.