Get it under control

Saab has been involved in ship control systems since the 1970s, when the first of Saab’s one-man “swim-by-wire” manoeuvring control systems was designed and fielded for the Royal Swedish
Navy’s Näcken class submarines. Saab ship control systems were also fitted to the Västergötland class and later to the Royal Norwegian Navy’s ULA class submarines.

This concept was expanded for the SCS-500 system with the integration of platform systems monitoring and management. Based on this expanded concept, Saab was awarded the contract to provide the integrated ship control, management and monitoring system for the Royal Australian Navy’s Collins class submarines.

The most recent development is the new SCS-500 Mk2 system, a new generation which takes full advantage of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) hardware and software technologies.

The cost of ownership and the need for reduced manning present a significant challenge for today’s naval architects. The SCS-500 Mk2 meets this challenge through the provision of high levels of automation and the use of commercial components, where suitable. This proven and fielded integrated ship control, management and monitoring system is suitable for submarines as well as surface combatants and is highly adaptable for different types of ships and platform equipment.

As a result of the high level of integration, reliability, flexibility and automation provided by the system, crew sizes have been significantly reduced. A good example of this is the Collins class submarine, where the crew size has been reduced to 42 men and women, as compared to the 64 men on its predecessor, the Oberon class. This is despite significant increases in the number and complexity of submarine systems and hence operational capability.