U.S. Navy awards Leonardo DRS $235 million production contract for AN/SPQ-9B Ship Protection Radar

Arlington, VA  01 November 2024 13:00

Leonardo DRS announced today announced today that it was awarded a contract from NAVSEA to produce ship-based air and surface target detection AN/SPQ-9B radars.  The contract includes options, if exercised over five years, would bring the cumulative value to more than $235 million.

Under the contract, Leonardo DRS will manufacture, inspect, and test AN/SPQ-9B radars and associated spare kits. 

“The SPQ-9B radar is a vital ship protection system used across the fleet, and we are proud that the U.S. Navy continues to entrust us to produce this important defensive technology,” said Cari Ossenfort, senior vice president and general manager of the Leonardo DRS Naval Electronics business unit. “Our experienced team’s ability to execute complex manufacturing and proven engineering processes are the key reasons we remain a trusted partner to NAVSEA and PEO Integrated Warfare Systems.”

The AN/SPQ-9B is an X-band, pulse Doppler, frequency-agile radar which was designed specifically for the littoral environment with a low false track rate in high clutter situations. It scans out to the horizon and performs simultaneous and automatic air and surface target detection and tracking of low flying anti-ship cruise missiles, surface threats, and low/slow flying aircraft, UAVs, periscopes and helicopters.

This award builds upon our existing RF and EW systems capabilities and is an expansion of the support that DRS has provided for AN/SPQ-9B over the past six years. This work is an example of DRS’s deep experience as a leader in complex design and manufacturing supporting a wide range of missions. The company’s capabilities extend across all domains to support naval, ground, air, space, and cyber missions in areas of sensing, force protection, computer networking, as well as naval power and propulsion systems.