Ultra Maritime has successfully conducted the first in-water test of its new Multistatic Active Receive Sonobuoy (MSARS) in Scotland, marking a significant step in enhancing the UK’s anti-submarine warfare capabilities.
The MSARS system was developed with backing from the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory under the Atlantic Bastion program, which aims to expand the use of autonomous technologies for submarine detection and tracking. The initiative focuses on integrating uncrewed aircraft into undersea surveillance missions while improving interoperability with existing crewed assets such as the Royal Navy’s Merlin Mk2 helicopter.
Designed for deployment from both manned and unmanned aircraft, MSARS enables operators to preconfigure mission settings through a built-in digital interface before launch. Ultra Maritime is also collaborating with General Atomics to integrate the sonobuoy with the MQ-9B SeaGuardian unmanned aircraft, a move expected to extend mission endurance, increase sonobuoy carrying capacity, and support distributed anti-submarine warfare operations across larger maritime regions.
The successful trial follows several recent developments in Ultra Maritime’s sonobuoy portfolio. In April, the company secured a US Navy contract for low-rate initial production of the AN/SSQ-125B sonobuoy, designed to improve the detection of increasingly stealthy submarines operating in challenging acoustic conditions. The company also won a contract through Thales to supply active and passive sonobuoys to France on behalf of the French defense procurement agency. Additionally, in 2025, Ultra Maritime partnered with India’s Bharat Dynamics Limited to jointly manufacture sonobuoys for the Indian Navy.
