L-3 Technologies Ocean Systems Division has received a $49.4 million contract to provide support, testing and repair services for the TB-23 towed array systems.

L-3 will salvage, repair and refurbish TB-23/BQ Towed Array Systems, and provide services including engineering and technician operations, depot level support and upgrades.

Work on the contract, announced Tuesday by the Department of Defense, will be performed in Sylmar, Calif., and is expected to be completed by December 2021. Navy fiscal 2018 other procurement funding in the amount of $4.1 million will be obligated at time of award.

The thin-line TB-23 is routinely deployed by submarine-based anti-submarine warfare operations.

Active sonar works by using sound waves for underwater object detection and mapping. It is used by the Navy for detecting enemy submarines and other underwater objects, as well as for commercial uses like oil drilling and fishing.

Towed arrays have the advantage of allowing multi-directional sonar not capable of systems mounted directly on the ship or submarine. It also has the advantage of suffering less sound interference from the ship itself.

Teledyne Gavia deploys Sonar Transponder Module for ASW training
Washington (UPI) Sep 11, 2018 –

Teledyne Gavia has announced the recent delivery to an undisclosed military customer of a Sonar Transponder Module for anti-submarine warfare training.

The STM module has been constructed by Scanmatic AS of Norway and forms part of a Gavia payload module capable of receiving and transmitting sonar signals for training purposes, the company said in a press release.

The STM is a flooded transducer compartment, an electronic compartment and a towed hydrophone behind an autonomous underwater vehicle. The STM can be programmed to simulate a wide variety of submersible targets, emitting different sound signals that emulate submarines and torpedoes.

The Gavia AUV is an autonomous sensor system that is modular and reconfigurable depending on the user. It can use several types of sensor, navigation and battery modules depending on the mission.

Gavia claims that it has low logistics costs and maintenance requirements. Modules include acoustic systems for ASW training, side scan sonars, multibeam sonars, cameras and environmental sensors to determine water conditions.