Northrop Grumman to Support U.S. Navy on Minehunting Integration: Northrop Grumman has been awarded a contract to support the U.S. Navy's integration onto an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) of the Northrop Grumman-built AQS-24A Side Look Sonar System to look for bottom and volume mines remotely.
The repackaging of the sonar for USV use will build upon the proven capabilities of the AQS-24A. The AQS-24A and its predecessors, the AQS-24 and the AQS-14, all built by Northrop Grumman, are airborne minehunting search systems used by the Navy for the past 28 years.
The AQS-24A is a high-speed minehunting system that is primarily towed from the MH-53E helicopter, but has been tested from USVs since 2002 by Northrop Grumman. With a track record of reliability and performance across the globe, the system's high-resolution side-scan sonar detects, localizes and classifies both bottom and moored mines in real time at high area coverage rates.
