Posted by Courtney E. Howard
TEWKSBURY, Mass., 13 Oct. 2010. Raytheon Company won two contracts totaling $115.7 million for the AN/AQS-22 Airborne Low Frequency Sonar (ALFS), the undersea warfaresensor for the U.S. Navy's MH-60R multimission helicopter. Naval Air Systems Command and Defense Logistics Agency Aviation Strategic Acquisition awarded the contract.
ALFS provides critical undersea warfare mission support capabilities, including submarine detection, tracking, localization, classification, acoustic intercept, underwater communication, and environmental data collection.
Under the first contract, valued at $59.7 million, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems will manufacture, integrate, test, and deliver ALFS systems. The company will also provide data and weapons replaceable assemblies for systems under test as well as helicopter maintenance trainer assets. The second contract, for $56 million, provides for spares for fleet-deployed systems.
"ALFS provides an essential capability, the centerpiece of our airborne anti-submarine warfare mission," says U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Steven R. Eastburg, program executive officer, Air ASW, Assault & Special Mission. "Working in tandem with our other battlegroup assets, the versatility and effectiveness of ALFS delivers our first line of defense against the threat of enemy submarines."
The system's performance and capabilities were tested and proved during two recent U.S. Navy undersea warfare exercises. The first was conducted by the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group in the Western Pacific Ocean. ALFS was deployed as the primary anti-submarine warfare sensor onboard the MH-60R helicopter, charged with defending the surface ships before the submarines could come within range to launch an attack.
According to Navy officials, the carrier strike group successfully detected all exercise submarines during the first deployment. The second exercise is currently underway with the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group.
