India, U.S. to jointly make sonobuoys for Indian Navy

Sonobuoys are very effective in detecting submarines lurking deep in the oceans

In a significant development, India and the U.S. announced cooperation on co-production of U.S. sonobuoys for Undersea Domain Awareness (UDA) for the Indian Navy, a high-end technology that allows tracking submarines in the deep seas and oceans.

This is the latest in a series of cooperation measures between the two countries as both grow wary of the rapid expansion of Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean Region.

“Welcoming the advancement of discussions between Ultra Maritime (UM) and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) to enhance undersea domain awareness through a first-of-its-kind partnership on co-production of U.S. sonobuoys in support of the U.S. and Indian defence industrial bases,” said a fact sheet ‘The U.S. and India Committed to Strengthening Strategic Technology Partnership’ issued on January 6 at the end of U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s visit to India on the aspect of deepening defence innovation and industrial cooperation.

Mr. Sullivan, on his final trip to the region as NSA, held a capstone meeting with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.

“In line with the U.S.-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (ICET) launched in May 2022, the Ultra Maritime and BDL teams will also pursue new sonobuoy technologies to optimize their acoustic performance in the unique environment of the Indian Ocean, enabling wide area search through bespoke multi-static active solutions,” Ultra Marine, a U.S.-based world-leader in the design and production of undersea warfare capabilities, said in a statement.

They will jointly supply and manufacture sonobuoys for the Indian Navy as per U.S. Navy standards, with production split across the U.S. and India, in accordance with ‘Make in India’ principles, it stated.

“The announcement today by NSA Jake Sullivan reflects Ultra Maritime’s commitment to the Indian Navy in partnering with BDL for production and delivery of world-class sonobuoys, and our resolute commitment to continue to develop forward leaning solutions to unique undersea challenges,” said Ultra Maritime CEO Carlo Zaffanella in the statement.