Collaboration aims to improve access to sonar equipment for maritime emergencies faster and easier

Kongsberg Maritime has signed an agreement with the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue to develop new and innovative maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) technologies. The duo’s collaboration will cover five concept development areas for SAR: maritime operations, rescue operations, search on the surface of the sea, underwater search and digital solutions.

Through the agreement, Kongsberg Maritime will provide the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue with access to its established hydroacoustic systems for in depth testing and development on new approaches to SAR. The systems include Kongsberg Maritime’s innovative PulSAR sonar, which can be towed behind a rescue boat to scan large areas of sea in a short time, transmitting images of the seabed and helping divers to navigate directly to targets of interest. The Society will also test the SAR application of Kongsberg Maritime solutions for monitoring diving operations.

“We want to ensure that people who are missing at sea and presumed lost are found more quickly,” says Rikke Lind, Secretary General of the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue. “For the next of kin, it is important that presumed victims are found as quickly as possible. Living in uncertainty is an additional strain,” explains Secretary General Rikke Lind. “Sonar search must be much more accessible; we want to have a specialised team who can travel out with the sonar when needed.”

“With this cooperation, Kongsberg Maritime and the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue will test modern technologies to improve search and rescue and make it more effective,” explains Bjørn Jalving, Senior Vice President, Subsea at Kongsberg Maritime. “We are proud to be able to work together with the Society and contribute to its incredibly important work.”