Weight reduction and structural health monitoring of masts to bring broader benefit to entire vessels and naval defence industry.

Naval Group Pacific, in partnership with the ARC Training Centre for Automated Manufacture of Advanced Composites (AMAC) at UNSW Sydney, has successfully demonstrated how a carbon composite embedded with fibre optics could be used for structural applications in marine vessels.

The proof-of-concept test was designed to determine how a composite embedded with fibre optics could be used in the masts of marine vessels that may house vital equipment such as radars and periscopes.