Sparton to Supply Sonobuoys to US Navy

Sparton Corporation will manufacture sonobuoys for the US Navy under a $28m contract awarded by ERAPSCO, a joint venture between Sparton and Ultra Electronics Holdings.

Under the contract, the company will produce 33,604 sonobuoys, including AN/SSQ-53F, AN/SSQ-62E, and AN/SSQ-36B variants designed to support US Naval anti-submarine forces.

Sonobuoys detect acoustic emissions or reflections from hostile submarines and transmit the signals to the navy airborne anti-submarine warfare forces.

The AN/SSQ-53F sonobuoy is a passive acoustic sensor used for detection, classification, and localisation of adversary submarines, while the AN/SSQ-62E is an active acoustic sensor used in the final localisation and attack phase of submarine prosecutions.

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The US Navy will use the AN/SSQ-36B sonobuoy to measure the temperature profile of a water column thereby providing sonar propagation and acoustic range prediction.

Manufacturing work, which will be carried out at the company’s facility in DeLeon Springs, Florida, is expected to be complete by September 2011.