Sparton Corporation to manufacture sonobuoys for United States Navy

Sparton Corporation announced today, the award of a $28 million subcontract to manufacture sonobuoys for the United States Navy as part of the Company’s ERAPSCO joint venture. Production will be performed at Sparton’s DeLeon Springs, Fla., facility and is expected to be completed by September 2011. This subcontract announcement follows the Company’s previous announcement of its subcontract to manufacture Air Deployable Active Receiver (ADAR) sonobuoys for the U.S. Navy. ERAPSCO is a joint venture between Sparton and USSI, a subsidiary of Ultra Electronics Holdings PLC. Under the ERAPSCO subcontract, Sparton will produce 33,604 sonobuoys. The types of sonobuoys to be produced are AN/SSQ-53F, AN/SSQ-62E, and AN/SSQ-36B which are used to support the United States Naval Antisubmarine Forces. The primary purpose of a sonobuoy is to detect acoustic emissions or reflections from potentially hostile submarines and transmit these signals to US Navy airborne antisubmarine warfare forces. The AN/SSQ-53F sonobuoy is a passive acoustic sensor that is used for detection, classification, and localization of adversary submarines during peacetime and combat operations. The AN/SSQ-62E DICASS sonobuoy is an active acoustic sensor that is used in the final localization and attack phase of submarine prosecutions. The AN/SSQ-36B sonobuoy measures the temperature profile of a water column providing sonar propagation and acoustic range prediction.