US awards
sonobuoy contracts worth up to $5.1 billion
5th October 2022 - 12:30 GMT | by The Shephard News Team in London
Aircrew of Patrol Squadron (VP) 46 load sonobuoys onto a P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine warfare patrol aircraft (US Navy photo)The US Navy has awarded contracts
worth up to $5.1 billion for producing and delivering a range of sonobuoy
types.
The firm-fixed-price modifications
to previously awarded contracts have been placed with Lockheed Martin, Undersea
Sensor Systems and Sparton De Leon Springs.
The modifications cover the delivery
of a range of sonobuoys, including bathythermograph, passive, active/passive
combo, multi-static source and multi-static receivers in support of training,
peacetime operations, testing, and maintaining inventories to support major
combat operations.
Work under the contract
modifications is expected to be completed in September 2027.
In September,
Sparton/USSI JV Erapsco was awarded a $181.88 million contract modification
from Naval Air Systems Command for anti-submarine warfare sonobuoys.
Under the award, up to 100,000
additional AN/SSQ-53, 16,000 AN/SSQ-101, and 10,000 AN/SSQ-62 sonobuoys will be
supplied to the service.
U.S. Navy replenishes supply of AN/SSQ-62
sonobuoys with programmable sonar for anti-submarine warfare (ASW)
Sept. 24, 2021
Navy aircraft drop sonobuoys, which relay
information back to the aircraft by radio link, to determine the locations and
bearing of enemy submarines.
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. – U.S. Navy anti-submarine
warfare (ASW) experts are replenishing their supplies of
advanced air-launched sub-hunting sonobuoys that work together with other
sonobuoys to detect, pinpoint, and track enemy submarines.
Officials of the Naval Air Systems
Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., announced a $8.4 million
order Thursday to ERAPSCO in Columbia City, Ind., for as many as 5,000 AN/SSQ-62
air-launched directional command active sonobuoy system (DICASS) sonobuoys.
The AN/SSQ-62E DICASS sonobuoy is for
detecting and localizing submarines in preparation for attack. I can provide
range and bearing to the target to fix position, and can support any of the
four acoustic frequencies as selected via the Electronic Function Select.
Sonobuoys are
air launched expendable, electro-mechanical ASW acoustic sensors designed to
relay underwater sounds of ships and submarines. Sonobuoys enable Navy ASW
forces to track potentially hostile submarines operating in the open ocean and
in coastal areas that could be threats to Navy carrier battle groups or other
forces. Information from these systems can help enable precision attacks with
air-launched torpedoes.
Navy fixed-wing aircraft and
helicopters can drop a pattern of sonobuoys, which relay information back to
the aircraft by radio link, to determine the exact locations of enemy
submarines.
The AN/SSQ-62 sonobuoys work together
with the Navy's AN/SSQ series of sonobuoys, which in addition to the AN/SQQ-62
consist of the SSQ-36 bathythermograph (BT); SSQ-53 passive directional low
frequency analyze and record (DIFAR); SSQ-101 air deployed active receiver
(ADAR); SSQ-110 multi-static non-coherent source; and SSQ-125 multi-static
coherent source.
The AN/SSQ-62E is a fifth-generation
all-digital sonobuoy for detecting and localizing submarines in preparation for
attack. It provides range and bearing to the target for accurate position
fixing.
Unlike previous versions, any AN/SSQ-62E sonobuoy
supports any of the four acoustic frequencies as selected via the Electronic
Function Select.
The AN/SSQ-62E also incorporates
command function select, which enables the operator to modify the sonobuoy’s
mode of operation even after it has been deployed. The AN/SSQ-62E uses a
standard lithium sulphur dioxide battery pack.
The AN/SSQ-62E DICASS is air
launchable from fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Descent of the sonobuoy
from the air is stabilized and slowed by a parachute. It also is deployable
from the deck of a surface vessel.
The AN/SSQ-62E offers an all-digital
design; is commandable to different depths, operational duration, and scuttle;
has a high-power 96-channel RF transmitter; can be commanded to different RF
channels, additional depths, and sonic frequency; is compatible with known
airborne acoustic processors; and is factory-configurable to AN/SSQ-62D or 62B
standards.
The AN/SSQ-62E weighs 35 pounds; has
one Watt minimum RF transmitter operating frequency; is 96 Channel selectable
to frequencies between 136 and 173.5 MHz; operates for at least one hour;
operates at depths of 90, 400, or 1500 feet; has a piezoelectric ceramic
omnidirectional transmit and receive sonar transducer;
and has a shelf life of five years in a sealed container.
The AN/SSQ-36B provides vertical
temperature profiles of the ocean layer for ASW and research, and used widely
in ASW operations to evaluate local effects of seawater temperature on sonar
propagation and acoustic range prediction.
The AN/SSQ-53F uses four hydrophones
-- each one a multichannel directional piezoelectric ceramic transducer -- that
operate at depths of 90, 200, 400, and 1,000 feet to listen for potentially
hostile submerged enemy submarines. Aircraft can drop a pattern of sonobuoys,
which relay information back to the aircraft by radio link, to determine the
exact locations of enemy submarines.
The SSQ-53F has three sensors: a
constant shallow omni (CSO), an advanced DIFAR sensor, and a calibrated
wideband omni. The buoy digitally conditions and amplifies the acoustics and
provides directional data that helps establish azimuthal bearing to the
submarines being tracked.
The AN/SSQ-101 ADAR sonobuoy provides
a commandable passive search capability, and functions as the receiver in a
multistatic active receiver system. The device uses a pentagon-shaped
horizontally oriented pattern of hydrophones to detect and beam form underwater
sound waves.
ERAPSCO operates as a joint venture
between the Sparton Corp. Defense & Security segment in Le Leon Springs,
Fla., and the Ultra Electronics maritime systems segment in Columbia City, Ind.
The company will do the work on this
contract in Columbia City, Ind., and DeLeon Springs, Fla., and should be
finished by September 2023. For more information contact ERAPSCO online
at www.erapsco.com,
Sparton Defense & Security at https://sparton.com, Ultra Electronics maritime systems at www.ultra.group.
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar
Merk: Bare medlemmer av denne bloggen kan legge inn en kommentar.