Navy contracts with BAE Systems for 10 more upgraded AN/SQQ-32(V)4 minehunting sonar systems
WASHINGTON, 6 Feb. 2011.Sonar systems designers at the BAE Systems Electronic Solutions segment in Nashua, N.H., will provide 10 upgraded AN/SQQ-32(V)4 minehunting sonar systems to the U.S. Navy under terms of a $10.3 million order announced Friday. These systems are the latest versions of the Navy's AN/SQQ-32 minehunting sonar, improved to better detect and classify bottom and moored sea mines in shallow waters.The order represents an option to a $14.6 million contract awarded last September for four AN/SQQ-32(v)4 systems that will be deployed from Navy aircraft carriers to detect and classify bottom and moored sea mines for self-protection. This latest contract calls for BAE Systems will build and deliver 10 AN/SQQ-32(V)4 minehunting sonar set high frequency wideband upgrade systems.The minehunting sonar high frequency wideband upgrade was developed to improve shallow-water minehunting capabilities, and will replace the Navy's AN/SQQ-32(v)3 detection sonar with improved detection performance and target resolution in high clutter environments including coastal waters, harbors, and confined straits. The contract comes from Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington.
The upgrade provides new detection sonar in the AN/SQQ-32(V)4's towed body, and provides new operator consoles with a multiple computer server layout interfaced via a 10-gigabit-per-second communications network using COTS open-systems components to reduce life cycle costs and provide for rapid technology insertion, BAE officials say.
The AN/SQQ-32(V)4 system was designed by the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Panama City, Fla., and the Applied Research Laboratory at the University of Texas.
BAE Systems will do the work on this latest order in Nashua, N.H., and should be finished by December 2013. For more information contact BAE Systems Electronic Solutions online at www.baesystems.com/Businesses/ElectronicSolutions, or Naval Sea Systems Command at www.navsea.navy.mil.
John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
