The AQS-24B was developed at Northrop Grumman's Undersea Systems campus
in Annapolis. The field testing took place at the U.S. Navy Central
Command in Bahrain, May 19-28. The AQS-24B finished 12 for 12 in successfully
executing missions during the test exercise. During separate Tactics
Development trials in Panama City, Florida, the AQS-24B achieved a record
long single sortie tow duration of 16.25 hours from a surface ship.
Northrop Grumman has three decades of in-fleet airborne mine countermeasure
experience with 27 systems fielded. The company was the first to field
electro-optic mine identification, and developed the first long-range
synthetic aperture sonar for mine warfare, the first mine warfare unmanned
surface vessel (jointly with the Naval Undersea Warfare Center) and
the first mine warfare unmanned underwater vehicle. The AQS-24B has
significantly improved image resolution, as well as the speed of real-time
sonar processing.
"The AQS-24B represents a significant advancement of the U.S. Navy's
mine hunting capability, on both the MH-53E helicopters as well as the
Mine Hunting Unmanned Surface Vessels (MHUs)," said Alan Lytle,
vice president, Undersea Systems business unit, Northrop Grumman. "With
the AQS-24B, Northrop Grumman and the Navy have worked together to effectively
advance the state of the art in undersea synthetic aperture sonar."
The U.S. Navy can detect, classify and localize modern-day mine threats
through the AQS-24B's enhanced mine hunting sonar. |
