Thales opens sonar site in Sydney to supply Australian armed forces

Oct 26 (Reuters) - French defence group Thales TCFP.PA said on Monday it had opened a sonar facility in the Western Sydney suburb of Rydalmere to produce and maintain towed array sonar systems for the Australian military's submarines, ships and maritime platforms.

The site, co-funded by Thales Australia and the Commonwealth, will supply sonar for Hunter-class frigates, Collins-class submarines and the BlueSentry autonomous system.

• Investment is described as multimillion Australian dollars; no specific figure was disclosed

• Local sustainment is intended to cut offshore maintenance periods and extend deployment times for Australian intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations

• Thales owns about 35% of Naval Group, which lost a submarine contract with Australia in 2021 when Canberra cancelled the programme in favour of the AUKUS pact, triggering a diplomatic dispute between France and Australia