Ultra Maritime has successfully completed the first in-water deployment trial of its next-generation Multistatic Active Receive Sonobuoy (MSARS) in Scotland, marking a significant milestone in advancing anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities in the UK.
Ultra Maritime press release
Amid increasing Russian submarine activity in the North Atlantic, enhanced detection and localization of threat submarines and unmanned underwater vehicles are critical to maintaining operational advantage. MSARS is designed to meet this need by delivering improved performance over current Royal Navy sonobuoy systems.
To accelerate operational deployment in response to evolving hybrid warfare threats, Ultra Maritime is collaborating with General Atomics to integrate MSARS and other G-size sonobuoys onto the MQ-9B SeaGuardian platform. As the only manufacturer of G-size sonobuoys, Ultra Maritime is uniquely positioned to deliver these compact buoys ideally suited for unmanned aerial system (UAS) operations, enabling greater flexibility and persistence in contested maritime environments. This integration will extend operational reach, increase sonobuoy payload capacity and support distributed multistatic ASW operations, strengthening the ability of allied forces to detect and track increasingly sophisticated undersea threats.
Developed under the sponsorship of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), an agency of the Ministry of Defence and part of the National Armaments Director Group, MSARS supports the objectives of the Atlantic Bastion programme. This initiative aims to scale autonomous ASW capabilities, enabling uncrewed air systems (UAS) while also enhancing the effectiveness of crewed platforms such as the Merlin Mk2.
This achievement represents a key step in Ultra Maritime’s broader strategy to transform ASW across air, surface and undersea domains—delivering a more agile, scalable and effective response to evolving maritime threats.
