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AN/AQS-24

Northrop Grumman was the first to field electro-optic mine identification and developed the first long-range synthetic aperture sonar for mine warfare, the first mine warfare unmanned surface vessel (jointly with the Naval Undersea Warfare Center) and mine warfare unmanned underwater vehicles.

The AQS-24B has significantly improved image resolution and real-time sonar processing. Advanced Capabilities and Performance Designed to Meet Current and Future Minehunting Challenges

• The only deployed and operationally proven high-speed airborne mine detection system in the world.
• High-resolution, side-scan sonar for real-time detection, localization and classification of bottom and moored mines at high area coverage rates.
• Laser line scanner provides precision optical identification of underwater mines and other objects of interest.
• Simultaneous operation of laser with sonar provides gap-filling capability and tactically advanced Target Detect and Target ID modes.
• Thousands of tow hours logged from a variety of platforms.

By February 2019 Northrop Grumman had successfully completed the development of the AQS-24C and delivered the first two systems to the U.S. Navy. The AQS-24C upgrade added an in-stride volume search capability to the AQS-24B.

The AQS-24C builds on the AQS-24B that was introduced to the fleet in 2017, which has continued to excel in naval operations from both the MH-53E helicopter and the mine hunting unit unmanned surface vehicle (MHU USV) platforms. The newly developed AQS-24C systems recently completed shipboard contractor testing and government helicopter testing on the MH-53E platform. Achieving this development milestone has resulted in the start of production to meet the fleet generated requirement for increased mine hunting capability.

“The AQS-24C is a cost effective upgrade to an existing system, providing long range volume search mine hunting while minimizing development costs and providing great value to the U.S. Navy customer,” said Alan Lytle, vice president, undersea systems, Northrop Grumman. “This new capability will keep sailors out of harm’s way and shorten the mine clearance timeline.” Northrop Grumman is concurrently executing a separate contract for integration of the AQS-24 onto the U.S. Navy’s MHU USV, which will be evaluated for operational use from U.S. Navy surface platforms.

In October 2019 Northrop Grumman successfully operated the AQS-24 minehunting sonar at depths greater than 400 feet during system testing off the coast of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Embarked on the M/V Richard Becker, the Northrop Grumman test team demonstrated reliable AQS-24 system operations with excellent sonar performance at all tested depths, while using the system to classify bottom objects of interest.

“The AQS-24 minehunting system performed superbly at tow depths up to and beyond 400 feet,” said Alan Lytle, vice president, undersea systems, Northrop Grumman. “This latest internal research and development effort underscores our commitment to provide the most innovative, affordable and operationally-proven capabilities to meet the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Mine Countermeasures Mission (MCM) package requirements and future expeditionary MCM needs.”

Earlier in 2019, Northrop Grumman demonstrated an autonomy upgrade path for the AQS-24’s minehunting system by integrating and successfully testing the company’s image exploitation suite, incorporating state-of-the-art machine learning for automatic target recognition (ATR) using multiple ATR algorithms. Following this successful demonstration, the U.S. Navy plans to incorporate this new capability into existing AQS-24 minehunting systems.

The success of Deep Tow is now followed by the recently commenced in-water testing of Northrop Grumman’s AQS-24 system on the Navy's MCM unmanned surface vessel (USV) at Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City. This is in preparation for user operated evaluation system testing aboard the LCS in 2020. The AQS-24’s newly doubled depth capability is planned for integration and test with the MCM USV system.

These major enhancements to the U.S. Navy’s only operational mine hunting towed sonar – running deeper, automatically detecting and reporting targets, and providing the transition to the LCS MCM USV – increases the operational effectiveness of the AQS-24 system while providing the warfighter with an unprecedented capability that affordably meets operational needs and provides a proven path for continued integration of state-of-the-art technology.