{"id":35373,"date":"2019-05-01T15:31:53","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T15:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2019\/05\/01\/us-could-lose-a-key-weapon-for-tracking-chinese-and-russian-subs\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:34:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:34:25","slug":"us-could-lose-a-key-weapon-for-tracking-chinese-and-russian-subs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/sensors\/2019\/05\/01\/us-could-lose-a-key-weapon-for-tracking-chinese-and-russian-subs\/","title":{"rendered":"US could lose a key weapon for tracking Chinese and Russian subs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 A key tool in the U.S. Navy\u2019s fight against Russian <\/a>and Chinese submarines weighs eight pounds, is three feet long and it doesn\u2019t even explode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sonobuoy is an expendable, waterborne sensor that has been air-dropped by the hundreds to detect enemy subs, a go-to capability for America and its allies for decades. The Pentagon wants to buy 204,000 sonobuoys in its fiscal 2020 budget request<\/a>, a 50 percent spending increase over 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But just as the U.S. military needs them most, this critical capability is under threat, and it\u2019s got nothing to do with an enemy nation. Without government investment in the market<\/a>, the Pentagon says it may no longer have a reliable supplier, according to officials who spoke to Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like so many systems in the Pentagon\u2019s arsenal, America has just one proven supplier. In this case, it is a joint venture between the United States and the UK called ERAPSCO. The Pentagon says ERAPSCO will dissolve by 2024 and that neither side of the partnership \u2014 Sparton Corp., of Schaumburg, Illinois, and Ultra Electronics, of Middlesex in the U.K. \u2014 will be able to make the necessary investments to produce the capability independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s an \u201cacknowledged weakness\u201d in the industrial base that required the Pentagon find a solution, said Eric Chewning<\/a>, a top Pentagon official who was until January the head of the Pentagon\u2019s industrial policy office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, U.S. President Donald Trump in March signed a memo invoking the Defense Production Act<\/a> to declare domestic production for the five types of AN\/SSQ sonobuoys \u201cessential to the national defense\u201d and grant the Pentagon authorities to sustain and expand the capability. The Air Force, in anticipation, issued a market research solicitation to find suppliers beyond ERAPSO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pentagon requires “comprehensive individual production lines … for the five sonobuoy types, but the two companies would \u201crequire assistance to establish independent production lines,\u201d said DoD spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Andrews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDue to the significant efforts and expenditures, it is unlikely that either the JV partners (or any other entity) will be independently able to make the necessary investments to develop and produce the required sonobuoy demands by 2024,\u201d Andrews said, adding that \u201cDoD intervention into the market is necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t