The United Kingdom Royal Navy’s latest nuclear submarine, HMS Astute, features 39,000 acoustic tiles manufactured from a fully formulated polyurethane system supplied by Dow Hyperlast, the international polyurethane systems solutions supplier.

Named by the Duchess of Cornwall in June 2007, HMS Astute was built by BAE Systems at Barrow-in-Furness (UK) as the Royal Navy’s “largest and most powerful attack submarine and the first of four Astute class vessels”. Astute's construction has been described by the UKMOD (the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence) as “more complex than the space shuttle.” The purpose of Astute’s acoustic tiles is to mask her sonar signature, making her the stealthiest attack submarine ever operated by the Royal Navy.

Dow Hyperlast’s close links with the industry enabled it to fine tune laboratory formulations of the polyurethane tiles to suit industrial scale manufacture. This included evaluating various production techniques and application methods to combine high performance with cost effectiveness. “Dow Hyperlast’s role in the manufacture of tiles for the HMS Astute demonstrates its ability to work closely with customers in the development of innovative materials and solutions while at the same time manufacturing products to high performance specifications”.