Kraken Robotics has received a $1.5 million contract to supply its AquaPix synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) for a U.S. defense customer.

The 6,000-meter- (20,000-feet-) rated systems will be integrated into the service’s underwater drones. Delivery is scheduled for this year.

Kraken expects to deliver three times as many sonars this year due to increased demand. The firm claims the growth is due to increased demand for subsea intelligence, shallow- and deep-water installations, an increase in SAS adoption over traditional sonar, and interoperability of its SAS products with more than 20 underwater drones.

“The increased range, resolution, and therefore higher usable area coverage rate of SAS over traditional side scan sonar systems significantly expand the capabilities of naval, scientific, and commercial applications,” Kraken Robotics said.

“This modularity of Kraken’s SAS to cross several platforms enables military customers to streamline their Post-Mission Analysis (PMA) by having the same sonar resolution and ATR performance across their entire fleet of vehicles and mission requirements.”

The agreement follows a $1.3 million contract earlier this month to supply AquaPix sonars for an undisclosed NATO navy.

The systems will be delivered this year and integrated into the military’s underwater mine-hunting and security drones.

In November 2022, the company secured a $1.1 million contract to provide the sonars for the subsurface drones of two NATO navies.

In 2022, Kraken’s AquaPix Miniature SAS (MINSAS) was selected by Huntington Ingalls Industries as the standard payload of its latest Remus 620 medium underwater drone.