The U.S. Navy has awarded ERAPSCO a $203.7 million contract modification to build up to 141,500 sonobuoys for Navy operations.
ERAPSCO a joint venture between Sparton Corporation and Ultra Electronics Holdings is to manufacture up to 6,000 AN/SSQ-36 sonobuoys, 95,000 AN/SSQ-53 sonobuoys, 15,500 AN/SSQ-62 sonobuoys, 10,000 AN/SSQ-101 sonobuoys and 15,000 AN/SSQ0125 sonobuoys.
A sonobuoy is a device used to detect and identify objects moving in the water. They are mostly used to detect submarines by either listening for the sounds produced by propellers and machinery (passive detection) or by bouncing a sonar “ping” off the surface of the submarine (active detection).
Multi-static techniques are also used for submarine detection and localization. Multi-static operations utilize separate active source and passive receiver sonobuoys. Sonobuoys are generally dropped from aircraft that are equipped with a means to launch them, and electronic equipment to receive and process data sent by the sonobuoy, although they can be deployed from any sea platform.
Work on the contract will be performed in DeLeon Springs, Florida and Columbia City, Indiana, and is expected to be completed by October 2019.