CRANE, Ind. – U.S. Navy undersea warfare experts needed sonar transducers for cruiser and destroyer surface warships. They found their solution from the Ultra Group Maritime segment in Braintree, Mass.
Officials of the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division in Crane, Ind., announced a $78.5 million contract in March for TR-343 connectorized sonar transducers for upgrades to Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and select Ticonderoga-class cruisers.
The TR-343 transducer provides echo-ranging capability for detecting enemy submarines and other undersea warfare systems for the AN/SQS-53C hull-mounted sonar array in the AN/SQQ-89(V) acoustic sonar weapons system.
A sonar transducer produces high-power underwater sounds that bounce off targets such as enemy submarines, mines, and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) to help provide target location, speed, and bearing. Sonar is short for sound detection and ranging.
The AN/SQQ-89(V) surface ship anti-submarine warfare (ASW) combat system provides combat management, fire control, command and control, and onboard training to enable surface warships to detect, classify, and attack enemy submarines, mines, and UUVs in the open ocean and in coastal waters and harbors.
The AN/SQQ-89(V) provides an integrated picture of the surface warship's acoustic tactical situation by receiving, combining, and processing signals from active and passive sonar from hull-mounted arrays, towed arrays, sonobuoys, and nearby ASW helicopters.
The system has been deployed on now-retired Oliver Hazard Perry -class (FFG 7) frigates, Burke-class (DDG 51) destroyers, and Ticonderoga-class (CG 47) cruisers, and will be deployed on the future FFG(X) guided-missile frigate.
On this contract Ultra Maritime will do the work in Braintree, Mass., and Cranston, R.I., and should be finished by January 2027. For more information contact Ultra Maritime online at https://umaritime.com, or the Naval Surface Warfare Center-Crane at www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NSWC-Crane.
