Raytheon Co. has received an $81.1 M US Navy contract for the AN/AQS-22 Airborne Low Frequency Sonar (ALFS), the primary undersea warfare sensor for the Navy's MH-60R multi-mission helicopter.

"ALFS advances the capabilities of the Navy's anti-submarine warfare mission, giving the fleet an unfair advantage over enemy submarines," said Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems' (IDS) Charles "Tom" Bush, Vice President of Seapower Capability Systems. "As existing threats remain and new threats emerge, ALFS is proving to be a highly capable and effective asset in the Navy's undersea warfare arsenal."

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System capabilities were recently tested and proved as part of a US Navy undersea warfare exercise conducted by the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group in the Western Pacific Ocean. During the exercise, ALFS was deployed as the primary anti-submarine warfare (ASW) 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 engaged all submarine targets over the three-day period.

"ALFS is the focal point of the carrier strike group's ASW capability," said US Navy Captain Dean Peters, H-60 helicopter program manager (PMA 299). "In conjunction with other sensors on the MH-60R, and because of the ability to transmit data to surface combatants, the fleet is planning to take full advantage of ALFS' capabilities."

ALFS provides critical undersea warfare mission support capabilities, including submarine detection, tracking, localization, classification, acoustic intercept, underwater communication and environmental data collection.

Under the contract, IDS will manufacture, integrate, test and deliver 23 new ALFS systems as well as provide miscellaneous weapons replaceable assemblies for systems under test and helicopter maintenance trainer assets.

To date, Raytheon has delivered 26 ALFS systems and is currently under contract for 80. Raytheon is also under contract to provide spares for life-cycle support of fleet-deployed systems.