Lockheed awarded $77.8M for Navy's undersea warfare system

Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin a modified $77.8 million contract for production of the AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 Surface Ship Undersea Warfare System.

Work on the contract, announced Thursday by the Department of Defense, will mainly be conducted in Pennsylvania and Florida, and is expected to be completed by May 2021.

The undersea warfare combat system can search, detect, classify, localize and track undersea contacts, as well as engage and evade submarines, mine-like small objects and torpedo threats.

The new contract is to develop, integrate and produce future advanced capability build and technical insertion baselines.

The Navy has obligated $77.1 million from fiscal 2014 through 2019 shipbuilding and conversion funds as well as fiscal 2019 other procurement, research, development, test and evaluation, as well as foreign military sales funding.

Last July, Lockheed received a $25.4 million modification to a existing contract for the system.

As of December, 46 destroyers and cruisers have received AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 back-fits, according to the U.S. Navy.

The system has been deployed on Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates, which are all currently in foreign naval service, as well as Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and Ticonderoga-class cruisers. They also will be deployed on the future Guided Missile Frigate class of vessels.