Navy asks CCC to provide important components for sonar transducer aboard surface warships
CRANE, Ind. – U.S. Navy anti-submarine warfare (ASW) experts are looking to Canadian Commercial Corp. (CCC) in Ottawa to build and refurbish important components for the Navy's AN/SQS-53 hull-mounted sonar array on surface warships.
Officials of the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Ind., announced a $10 million contract to CCC Wednesday to build and refurbish the TR-343 transducer tube assemblies as part of the repair of TR-343 sonar transducers.
The tube assembly is the housing used for the TR-343 transducer, as part of the AN/SQS-53C hull mounted sonar array subsystem, AN/SQQ-89(V) anti-submarine warfare (ASW) System. CCC acts as Canada’s international contracting and procurement agency.
The AN/SQS-53 hull mounted sonar array is a large bulb-like structure built into the bows below the water line of U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, Ticonderoga-class cruisers, and Japanese navy Kongo-class destroyers. The AN/SQS-53 is a component of AN/SQQ-89(V) acoustic sonar weapons system for surface warships.
The AN/SQQ-89(V) is an integrated surface ship undersea warfare combat system with the capability to search, detect, classify, localize, and attack enemy submarines.
The surface ship AN/SQS-53 is a computer-controlled surface-ship sonar that has active and passive operating capabilities providing precise information for ASW weapons control and guidance.
The AN/SQS-53C, the latest version of this hull-mounted sonar system, retains the transducer assembly from either the AN/SQS-53A and 53B, yet provides greater range and detection capability with only half of the electronics footprint and less weight than earlier versions.
Constructed in standard electronic modules, the AN/SQS-53C is an all-digital system that provides apparent range, bearing, and true bearing of submarine contacts with active sonar and true bearing of contacts with passive sonar.
Related: Lockheed Martin to make COTS upgrades to submarine sonars in $29.4 million contract
Active sonar transmits a ping to bounce sound waves off the hulls of submarines. Passive sonar means simply listening for the sounds of submarines and surface vessels. This system is the basic sonar watch-standers tool to keep an eye on all ship traffic; the system often detects other surface ships at greater ranges than can most radar systems.
The AN/SQS-53 simultaneously can detect, identify, and track several different targets, and interfaces with the host vessel's digital computers. It has three active modes of operation: surface duet, bottom bounce, and convergence zone. It also can ping off buoys to pinpoint its own location in foreign ports.
For more information contact Canadian Commercial Corp. online at www.ccc.ca, or the Naval Surface Warfare Center-Crane at www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NSWC-Crane.
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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.
