Portugal’s Navy's torpedo stock is to have an upgrade in a deal with Leonardo Defence Systems.
In an order dated August 10, 2017, just published in Diário da República, Defence Minister José Azeredo Lopes authorised spending a maximum of €7.07 million for "the upgrading of the Black Shark-type combat torpedoes for the Trident-class submarines, in order to allow the continuation and increase of the operability and use of submarine defences."
The Defence Minister authorised the hiring of Leonardo Defence Systems for the maintenance of the torpedoes. The expenditure will be spread over three years, with €2.4 million spent this year, €682,000 in 2018 and a final instalment of €4 million in 2019.
Black Shark is a heavyweight, 6.3 metre torpedo developed by Whitehead Sistemi Subacquei S.p.A. of Italy and in service since 2004.
The minister noted that "it is essential to modernise in order to continue the programme of launching torpedoes on exercise and to maintain the training of the crews in the operation of this weapon, thus maintaining our operational capacity where the torpedoes are used."
The Trident-class submarines were ordered by the government in 1998 with a contract finally being signed in 2004. The two submarines were delivered in 2009 and 2010 amid rumours that key officials in the armed forces and government had been bribed by the German company Ferrostaal, to ensure that German Submarine Consortium - of which it was a part - was chosen to supply the order worth €880 million.
The stock of 24 torpedoes cost the government €42 million in 2005, curiously these weapons arrived long before the submarines.
Two managers at Ferrostaal were convicted of paying bribes but in Portugal, there was deemed not to be sufficient evidence to take anyone to court, so the investigation simply was dropped, much to the relief of Paulo Portas, who had been the Defence Minister at the time of the acquisitions and long suspected of profiting from the deal.
The torpedo upgrade involves changing the batteries and fiddling with the electronics to extend their life by at least ten years.
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Leonardo S.p.A., formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and Finmeccanica, is an Italian global high-tech company and one of the key players in aerospace, defence and security. Headquartered in Rome, the company has 180 sites worldwide. The company is partially owned by the Italian government through the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which holds 30.2% of the company's shares and is its largest shareholder.
Leonardo is active in the design, development and production of naval artillery, armoured vehicles and underwater systems. In the Electronics, Defence and Security Systems sector, Leonardo operates through its US subsidiary DRS Technologies and the joint venture MBDA (37.5% BAE Systems, 37.5% Airbus Group and 25% Leonardo) that produces missiles and missile systems.
The Black Shark torpedo offers fibre optic wire for increased bandwidth and signal processing ability compared to copper wire guided torpedo types. The sonar capability include non-doppler shifted target discrimination and multi-frequency capability that features advanced spatial and angular analysis abilities.
The design goal for the torpedo was 300% improvement of passive acquisition and 200% active acquisition with its sonar system. The brushless motor design coupled with the aluminum-silver oxide (Al-AgO) battery gives the system a top speed 50+ knot, and a range of 50 km, performance envelope.
Like all other battery powered HWTs, the battery power system does not suffer the loss of performance of Otto fuel II types at greater depths since there is no exhaust to deal with at greater pressures. The result is a 150% improvement in speed and 200% in torpedo endurance.
