Raytheon has received a $63.4 million U.S. Navy contract for AN/AQS-22 Airborne Low Frequency Sonar, the primary undersea warfare sensor for the U.S. Navy's MH-60R multi-mission helicopter.
AN/AQS-22 provides critical undersea warfare mission support capabilities, including submarine detection, tracking, localization, classification, acoustic intercept, underwater communication, and environmental data collection.
"The award confirms the Navy's commitment to ALFS and the system's contribution to advancing the fleet's undersea warfare capabilities," said Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems' (IDS) Charles "Tom" Bush, vice president of Seapower Capability Systems. "ALFS is a tested and proven asset and the cornerstone of the fleet's anti-submarine warfare operational strategy."
Under the contract, IDS will manufacture, integrate, test and deliver 15 new ALFS systems, as well as provide miscellaneous "weapons replaceable assemblies for unit under test" and air maintenance trainer assets.
Full rate production of AN/AQS-22 has been accelerated since the initial fielding of the MH-60R helicopter into the U.S. Navy fleet in 2006. To date, Raytheon has delivered 16 AN/AQS-22 systems and is currently under contract for 43. This new contract follows two other recent ALFS contracts totaling $89 million to provide spares for whole-life support of deployed systems.
Work will be performed at Raytheon's Seapower Capability Center, Portsmouth, R.I., and by AN/AQS-22 partner, DRS Sonar Systems, Gaithersburg, Md. Work is expected to be completed by January 2011.
Integrated Defense Systems is Raytheon's leader in Joint Battlespace Integration providing affordable, integrated solutions to a broad international and domestic customer base, including the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the U.S. Armed Forces and the Department of Homeland Security.
