PARSIPPANY, N.J., 14 Nov. 2005. DRS Technologies, Inc. announced today that it was awarded a contract to produce new AN/AQH-13B Acoustic Data Recorders (ADRs) and analysis equipment for the U.S. Navy's P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft.
For this award, DRS will upgrade over 70 older tape-based AN/AQH-13 ADR and ADR-D configurations to the new, reliable, hard drive AN/AQH-13B ADR-HD configuration. These next-generation, high-capacity, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)-based recorders provide improved performance, lower operating costs, and reduced weight.
The $6.8 million contract was awarded to DRS by the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) in Patuxent River, Md.
Additional improvements will include replacement of obsolete parts and other components providing increased reliability. Work for this order will be accomplished by the company's DRS Data & Imaging Systems unit in Oakland, N.J. Product deliveries are expected to begin immediately and continue through June 2007.
The AN/AQH-13B Acoustic Data Recorder system is designed to record 32 channels of acoustic information from sonobuoys dropped into the sea, plus other annotation data used to support the antisubmarine warfare missions of P-3C aircraft. The system was designed to be a lightweight, plug-compatible replacement for two DRS-developed 16-channel recorders currently operating throughout the U.S. Navy's fleet. It also was designed to be compatible with other COTS interfaces and can be implemented readily for other applications as future recording requirements evolve. The AN/AQH-13 is built and tested to stringent standards and is qualified to withstand the hostile environments encountered by patrol aircraft at sea.
"DRS has provided various configurations of the ADRs to the U.S. Navy and allied international countries that fly P-3 aircraft for over three decades and is a key supplier for these customers' air modernization efforts," said Fred L. Marion, president of DRS's Surveillance & Reconnaissance Group. "This new, COTS-based, high-capacity line of data storage solutions was developed specifically for the critical surveillance missions of the P-3C, the world's most widely deployed, long-range, maritime patrol aircraft."
The COTS-based design of DRS's recorder systems provides cost savings for customers, while meeting or exceeding critical performance, reliability and long-term support requirements. DRS has successfully delivered thousands of recorders to the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and U.S. Army, as well as international military forces, for air, sea and land applications.
DRS Technologies, headquartered in Parsippany, N.J., provides leading edge products and services to defense, government intelligence and commercial customers. Focused on defense technology, DRS develops and manufactures a broad range of mission critical systems. The company employs 6,000 people worldwide. For more information, see www.drs.com.
