Israel Aerospace Industries, a state-run company, announced on Wednesday that it had signed a contract to sell the BlueWhale system of autonomous submarines to the Greek Navy.

IAI did not disclose financial details.

BlueWhale is a large uncrewed underwater vehicle weighing 5.5 tons and can perform a wide range of covert maritime missions, including intelligence-gathering above the sea surface, submarine and underwater target detection, acoustic intelligence collection and searching for and detecting naval mines on the seabed, IAI said.

The autonomous submarine is capable of performing a large part of the operations of a crewed sub for several weeks. It has also been deployed successfully for thousands of dive hours.

The Hellenic Aerospace Industry will play a key role in the development and production of BlueWhale as part of this partnership.

IAI stated that the HAI will have access IAI's technologies, and opportunities for technology transfers, as well as active involvement in significant operational projects. (Reporting and editing by Tomaszjanowski)

(source: Reuters)