Ultra and Sparton JV to produce next-gen sonobuoys for US Navy

Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) and Sparton DLS, through their joint venture Erapsco, have received a contract from the US Navy for the production of next-generation sonobuoys.

 The new buoy type, the AN/SSQ-125A (Q-125A) which was recently officially qualified, was developed by ERAPSCO following two years of work.

The Q-125A is expected to provide advanced active sonar capabilities to the US Navy fleet of anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. Furthermore, the navy expects that it will improve the ability to counter stealthy modern submarines from foreign adversaries.

ERAPSCO will award production subcontracts in the amount of $3.6 million and $8 million to Ultra Electronics USSI and Sparton.

Tracy Howard, Chief Executive Officer of Sparton DLS, commented: “As a proud member of the ASW community in uniform and business for over 35 years, I am pleased that we are able to provide … sonobuoy engineering and production to the US Navy and our allies throughout the world.”

Production operations will take place at Ultra Electronics USSI’s Columbia City facility and Sparton’s DeLeon Springs facility, and are expected to be completed by November 2023. The value of the contract is $11.6 million.

In January this year, Ultra partnered with Mahindra Defence Systems Limited to deliver integrated anti-submarine warfare defence suite (IADS) for selected frontline warships of the Indian Navy.