Sparton Corporation and Ultra Electronics – USSI, a subsidiary of Ultra Electronics Holdings plc (ULE) announced the award of subcontracts valued at $10.8 million to their ERAPSCO joint venture, for the manufacture of sonobuoys for the United States Navy. ERAPSCO will provide production subcontracts in the amount of $5.6 million and $5.2 million to Sparton Electronics Florida, Inc. and USSI respectively. Production will take place at Sparton’s DeLeon Springs, FL facility as well as USSI’s Columbia City, IN facility and is expected to be completed by April 2015.
ERAPSCO was awarded a contract for the AN/SSQ-53F, a passive acoustic sensor used for detection, classification, and localization of adversary submarines during peacetime and combat operations and the AN/SSQ-125 MAC Source Sonobuoy, an A-size, expendable, multistatic active coherent (MAC) sonobuoy. The Q125 sonobuoy features digital signal processing with digital compass capability for bearing determination, target localization and tracking by U.S. Navy airborne personnel.
The Q53F and Q125 sonobuoys are used to support the United States Naval Antisubmarine Forces. The primary purpose of a sonobuoy is to detect acoustic emissions or reflections from potentially hostile submarines and transmit these signals to US Navy airborne antisubmarine warfare forces.
“ERAPSCO is firmly committed to the development of innovative technology in supplying the U.S. Navy with quality products that help secure U.S. borders, and is proud to continue in its role as a technology partner for the U.S. Navy,” the company said in a release.
[mappress] Press Release, September 2, 2013; Image: ERAPSCO