Jaitley hands over systems for submarines to Indian Navy

Union Defence and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday handed over the systems developed by the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory ( NPOL), the only Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) lab in Kerala, to Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba at an event in Delhi.

The NPOL handed two more systems, an upgraded version of its submarine sonar USHUS and a directing gear for ship-borne hull-mounted sonar to the Navy.

USHUS-2 is an integrated submarine sonar suite, a state-of-the-art upgrade of existing USHUS sonar presently operational on frontline submarines of the Navy. USHUS, which is a part of a 2001 programme, had replaced Russian sonar systems on frontline submarines. USHUS-2 will replace Russian sonar systems on other submarines, thus indigenising all sonar systems.

NPOL-Kochi has total orders for thirty DGs till 2020. The unit is also into exports with its system installed onboard the Myanmar Navy's frigate in October, 2014.

The first system for the Navy was installed onboard INS Brahmaputra in 2015.