Advertisement

L-3 Communications receives contract for towed sonar arrays

By Stephen Carlson
The Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Hawaii on the submarine piers in Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam during a change of command ceremony on August 2. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel Hinton/U.S. Navy
The Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Hawaii on the submarine piers in Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam during a change of command ceremony on August 2. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel Hinton/U.S. Navy

Sept. 12 (UPI) -- L-3 Technologies Ocean Systems Division has received a $49.4 million contract to provide support, testing and repair services for the TB-23 towed array systems.

L-3 will salvage, repair and refurbish TB-23/BQ Towed Array Systems, and provide services including engineering and technician operations, depot level support and upgrades.

Advertisement

Work on the contract, announced Tuesday by the Department of Defense, will be performed in Sylmar, Calif., and is expected to be completed by December 2021. Navy fiscal 2018 other procurement funding in the amount of $4.1 million will be obligated at time of award.

The thin-line TB-23 is routinely deployed by submarine-based anti-submarine warfare operations.

Active sonar works by using sound waves for underwater object detection and mapping. It is used by the Navy for detecting enemy submarines and other underwater objects, as well as for commercial uses like oil drilling and fishing.

Towed arrays have the advantage of allowing multi-directional sonar not capable of systems mounted directly on the ship or submarine. It also has the advantage of suffering less sound interference from the ship itself.

Latest Headlines