US confirms funds for new towed array motors for Virginia-class
The motor assemblies will sustain the thin-lined towed array sonar systems on all existing Virginia-class submarines in service.
John Hill
June 3, 2024
USS Virginia at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut in August 2010. Credit: DVIDS.
The US Navy has ordered new thin-lined towed array motor assemblies for its Virginia-class nuclear-powered fast attack submarine (SSN) fleet.
L3 Technologies, doing business as L3-KEO, was selected as a sole-source supplier to deliver these subcomponents to the Navy by August 2026 in a stand-alone contract worth $20m according to the US Department of Defense at the end of May 2024.
The submarine’s ‘towed array sonar’ system comprise a collection of hydrophones – or sound sensors – that straddle behind the boat along a long thin line. Its detachment from the boat means that the submarine’s noise will not interfere with its detection of other sounds beneath the surface.
https://www.naval-technology.com/news/us-confirms-funds-for-new-towed-array-motors-for-virginia-class/
