Leidos to support signature silencing program for Navy

Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The Department of Defense has awarded Leidos Inc., out of Reston, Virginia, an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract in support of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps signature silencing program for naval ships and undersea systems.

The $41.9 million deal, announced Friday by the Pentagon, will provide operations and maintenance support to the Southeast Alaska Measurement Facility, or SEAFAC, which is the U.S. Navy's only West Coast asset for making "high fidelity passive acoustic signature measurements."

U.S. Navy officials say the contract will provide "logistics, maintenance, operations, and program management services" for the signature silencing program at Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Southeast Alaska Measurement Facility.

A "signature" or "acoustic signature" is a combination of acoustic emissions from naval ships and submarines. The combination of emissions is made up of machinery from the ship itself, such as the noise generated by the engines and propeller shafts, to the amount of water being displaced by the hull as it cuts through the ocean.

Work on the contract will be performed in Ketchikan, Alaska, and Poulsbo, Wash., according to Pentagon officials. The Navy has already obligated $100,000 to Leidos from its fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance funds, and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.