Northrop Grumman Delivers 1st LWWAA hardware for US Navy Block IV Virginia Class Submarine

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Naval Defence Industry News - USA
 
 
 
Northrop Grumman Delivers 1st LWWAA hardware for US Navy Block IV Virginia Class Submarine
 
Northrop Grumman Corporation has delivered the first shipset of Light Weight Wide Aperture Array (LWWAA) hardware for Block IV of the Virginia Class Submarine (VCS) to the U.S. Navy. This represents the 19th shipset that Northrop Grumman has supplied for the VCS program.
     
Northrop Grumman LWWAA Block IV Virginia Class Submarine US Navy 1 LWWAA is the only available fiber-optic passive hull mounted sensor array in the market and is critical to the operation of the U.S. Navy’s VCS fleet.
     
LWWAA is the only available fiber-optic passive hull mounted sensor array in the market and is critical to the operation of the U.S. Navy’s VCS fleet. The technology is central to the development of future generations of undersea sensors. There are six arrays in each shipset.

"LWWAA gives the Navy a distinctive edge over sensors being used by any other naval force," said Alan Lytle, vice president, undersea systems, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems. “The early delivery of this first Block IV LWWAA shipset continues a tradition of 114 consecutive early array deliveries by Northrop Grumman Undersea Systems in support of the Virginia Class Submarine program.”
     
Northrop Grumman LWWAA Block IV Virginia Class Submarine US Navy 2
Northrop Grumman Corporation has delivered the first shipset of LWWAA hardware for Block IV of the Virginia Class Submarine to the U.S. Navy.
     
Northrop Grumman has been delivering LWWAA panels for all VCSs, starting with the USS Virginia, SSN-774. The start of the first Block IV shipments represents the beginning of a series of 10 shipments that will be delivered at a rate of two per year to Huntington Ingalls Industries. Northrop Grumman will provide the acoustic array assemblies as well as all the hardware required to install the arrays on the exterior of the ships.