Raytheon and the US Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) – Division Newport have enhanced Raytheon’s AN/AQS-20A mine-hunting sonar for better performance and reliability, including higher-quality imaging of objects deep under the sea, improving the system’s ability to identify and classify mines.
Raytheon and NUWC formally launched the AN/AQS-20A collaboration last year, under a ‘work for private party’ contract funded by Raytheon. Improvements in both system performance and image quality resulted from the strong working partnership of this Rhode Island-based, government-industry team of experts. Tested at sea, the system’s optimised sonars captured images of the ocean floor with enough clarity to see the contents of lobster pots.
AN/AQS-20A is the only mine-hunting sonar currently in production for the US Navy and the only system certified for deployment from the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships, as the primary sensor for mine counter-measure missions. The system demonstrated solid performance throughout a recent Technical Evaluation, conducted by the Navy, where AN/AQS-20A performed as designed and exceeded reliability and operational availability requirements.
Paul Ferraro, Vice President of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems’ Seapower Capability Systems, said: “Together with NUWC, we’ve applied our collective expertise to enhance this critical undersea warfare technology – and we’ve achieved outstanding results. Building on the system’s proven performance, we’ve increased its ability to go further and see objects more clearly – critical abilities for the Navy’s mine warfare mission.”
Image: US Navy photo The Remote Minehunting System and AN/AQS-20A Minehunting Sonar on USS Independence (LCS-2)
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collaboration Division Newport International mine detection Naval Undersea Warfare Center Navy NORTH AMERICA NUWC Paul Ferraro Raytheon Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems Seapower Capability Systems US Vice President
Post written by: Domhnall MacInnes
I am a features writer for MOD DCB magazine and Defence Online and a Content Marketing Executive with BiP Solutions.
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