Leonardo's Sonus to be delivered to British Army's 5th Regiment Royal Artillery over next 12 months

British troops setting up HALO post, also known as Advanced Sound ranging Programme (ASP) sensor in UK service, at a rooftop location in Iraq. (Crown Copyright)

The British Army's 5th Regiment Royal Artillery is expected to receive Leonardo's passive acoustic detection system Sonus over the next 12 months as part of an GBP18.3 million (USD24.96 million) contract under Project Serpens, according to a 14 February UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) press release.

Sonus is the latest version of Leonardo's Hostile Artillery Locating (HALO) system, a company spokesperson confirmed to Janes on 16 February.

“Ukraine is using a version of HALO,” the spokesperson said without going into further details due to sensitivities around the subject matter. They added that the lessons learned from the use of a HALO variant in Ukraine have “influenced our thinking with Sonus for the British Army”. The system underwent “all sorts of hardship” on the ground in Ukraine, including being in a field that was set on fire, and it was still functioning afterwards, according to the spokesperson.

HALO is a passive, acoustic weapon locating system that is designed to be lightweight, mobile, and easy to deploy. It can function as a weapon locator, as a passive cueing device for a weapon locating radar, or as an intelligence-gathering device. It provides 360° coverage and is highly accurate, with a typical CEP (circular error probable) of 100–200 m at a range of 15 km, according to Janes C4ISR & Mission Systems: Land