Naval Surface Warfare Center engineers completed the first sonar upgrade to its fleet of mine hunting vessels designed to improve detection in cluttered environments, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) said yesterday.
The AN/SQQ-32(V)4 mine hunting sonar set upgrade was completed on the USS Guardian (MCM-5) in the Navy’s class of Mine Countermeasures Ships on April 18 while the Guardian was at its Sasebo, Japan homeport.
The sonar set is a high-frequency wideband upgrade to the Raytheon [RTN]-built AN/SQQ-32(V)3 sonar that is currently in service. The upgrade took four months to complete. The MCM 5 crew is to begin training on the modernized system in June, NAVSEA said.
The USS Patriot (MCM-7), also based in Sasebo, is scheduled to the next installation this month, and upgrades to the other six MCMs are to be completed by fiscal 2015, NAVSEA said.