ERAPSCO to Manufacture Sonobuoys for US Navy

February 8, 2013

Sparton Corporation and Ultra Electronics – USSI, a subsidiary of Ultra Electronics Holdings plc (ULE) announced the award of subcontracts valued at $17.9 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 $10.1 million and $7.8 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 March 2015.

ERAPSCO was awarded this contract for 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 Q125 sonobuoy is 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.

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Naval Today Staff, February 8, 2013; Image: ERAPSCO