Thales

Thales Underwater Systems S.a.s.

Didier Soreau

Olivier Jezequel

Michaël Jourdan

Jean-Philippe Goudeau

Philippe Kerdraon

Claude Lemoine

A system for automatically launching and recovering marine or underwater vehicles from a carrier ship which remains under way to limit pitching and rolling movements. The system includes an inclinable articulated ramp including a bottom and edges, and hauling means for controlling sliding of the vehicle along the ramp during launch and for hoisting the vehicle up along the ramp during recovery. The ramp has a free end which varies between an immersed position in water and an emerged position in a horizontal position. The system includes buoyancy means allowing the free end of the ramp to float at the surface or near the surface of the water when lowered. The bottom of the articulated ramp also has an external face that is configured to form streamlining ensuring fluidity of the end of the ramp with the water and limiting vertical dynamic movements caused by waves.

System for launching and recovering underwater vehicles, notably towed underwater vehicles

A system for launching and recovering marine or underwater vehicles from a carrier ship which remains under way which limits the amplitude of pitching and rolling movements. The system includes an inclinable articulated ramp including a bottom and edges, and hauling means for controlling sliding of the vehicle along the ramp during launch and for hoisting the vehicle up along the ramp. The ramp has a free end which varies between an immersed position in the water and an emerged position in a horizontal position. The system also includes buoyancy means allowing the free end of the ramp to float at or near the surface of the water when the ramp is lowered. The bottom of the articulated ramp also has an external face configured to form streamlining thus ensuring fluidity of the end of the ramp in contact with the water and limiting vertical dynamic movements caused by waves.

A device that allows control of the navigation of a towed underwater device, such as a linear acoustic antenna. The device is equipped with a pair of horizontal wings and a pair of vertical wings. These wings are kept horizontal and vertical by pendular movement of the device about the antenna on which the device is fixed. The action of the horizontal wings, which influence only immersion, and of the vertical wings, which influence only the lateral offset, are thus decoupled. The power consumption of the device is reduced, thus allowing the device to be powered by internal batteries and allowing the device to be mounted on existing antennas.

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Plouzane, France

Didier Soreau