The need for speed

Time is everything in most naval missions. For those in coastal waters, the demand for rapid response is often matched by the requirement for naval craft to safely access shallow waters. Waterjets are ideally suited to operating in these challenging environments and Kongsberg Maritime offers jets in a wide range of power outputs, suited to search and rescue, troop carrying and rapid attack missions.

More than 10,000 Kongsberg Kamewa steel and aluminium waterjet units, with power ratings from 260kW up to 36,000kW, have been delivered since the 1970s.

Waterjets need less maintenance due to the fewer number of moving parts. And waterjet nozzles can redirect the jet efficiently, making waterjet-powered craft more manoeuvrable. At speeds over 20 knots, waterjet propulsion lets a vessel travel more efficiently with less fuel than a traditional propeller and shaft system. 

With an extensive range of propulsion products available for all naval platforms, our waterjets are developed with the same laser-sharp focus on detailed hydrodynamic research and testing, to ensure the efficient performance matched to the customers’ requirements.

The Kongsberg Hydrodynamic Research Centre (HRC) in Kristinehamn, Sweden, has played a key role in ensuring the company’s waterjet range is at the forefront of developing and refining propeller and pump technology, including those that are used in waterjet systems. HRC researchers look at every possible way to squeeze out better performance and develop the next generation of waterjets.

“We make a lot of advances from one generation of waterjet to the next. By doing that, we challenge the previous design, and then we can get to something new,” says Reima Aartojärvi, a senior hydrodynamicist at the HRC.

“We are already working on the next generation of waterjet propulsion systems, trying to answer questions such as ‘how to make waterjets work at lower speeds’, or ‘how can we get the most efficiency out of an electric drive for waterjets’?”

“Our customers are drawn to waterjet propulsion because of the very specific advantages they offer, and right now our S4 series is the best there is in the market in terms of propulsive efficiency,” he adds. 

Waterjet propulsion is also safer than traditional propellers because it eliminates the risk of a propeller accidents to swimmers or marine life. And as waterjet propulsion systems don’t require appendages below the hull, waterjet powered craft can operate in shallower water.