Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar Flags Off India's First Indigenous Sonar Dome Tuesday March 29,2016

India's first indigenous composites sonar dome, a ship's underwater eyes and ears, was flagged off by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday March 29,2016

It will be delivered to Mazgaon docks in Mumbai.

Designed and produced by a Defence and Research Development Organisation (DRDO) lab in Pune, the sonar dome is a first of its kind in the country and has been manufactured by a composites manufacturing company.

This is a huge contribution by Indian Industry to the 'Make in India' movement, Defence Ministry officials said.

Only a couple of companies worldwide have the capability of realising such structures.

All anti-submarine warfare (ASW) ships have a sonar array fitted to the ship structure below the waterline. The sonar functions as the ship's underwater eyes and ears.

The sonar dome is a structure fitted over the sonar array so that its electronics and sensors are not exposed to surrounding hostile environment and has to be structurally sound as well as acoustically transparent.

It has been designed by Research and Development Establishment (Engineers), a DRDO laboratory based in Pune and manufactured by Goa-based composites manufacturing company Kineco. 

 What is a Sonar Dome?

 
Sonar domes are located on the hulls of submarines and surface ships.

Their purpose is to house electronic equipment used for detection, navigation, and ranging.

 Sonar domes on Navy surface ships are made of rubber. On submarines, they are made of steel or glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) with a 1/2-inch rubber boot covering the exterior.

Military Sealift Command (MSC) T-AGS Class ships have sonar domes made of GRP. Zinc anodes are fastened to the exterior of steel sonar domes, and are contained within all the sonar domes, for cathodic protection.

Sonar domes can be filled with fresh and/or seawater to maintain their shape and design pressure.

Most surface ship sonar domes are initially filled with freshwater, and any water that is lost underway is replenished with seawater from the firemain system.

The larger AN/SQS-53 and AN/SQS-26 sonar domes on cruisers and destroyers are located at the bow, and the smaller AN/SQS-56 domes on frigates are mounted on the keel.

Submarine sonar domes are located at the bow. MSC T-AGS Class ships have several small sonar domes at various locations on the hull.

The T-AGS Class free flood sonar domes have ports which are open to the sea.