By Geoff Fein
KaZak Composites, Inc., has developed a sonobuoy that can be deployed from a Navy P-3C aircraft from an altitude of 30,000 feet and from a distance of 30 miles from a target, a company official said.
Currently, P-3s have to fly at low altitudes to drop sonobuoys to prevent damaging the sonobouy. But operating in that flight envelope also makes the aircraft and crew vulnerable to enemy fire.
Under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) effort, the Navy began looking for a sonobuoy that could be deployed from high altitudes, John Schickling, KaZak executive vice president, told Defense Daily.
“But you had to maintain the same shape and size of the existing sonobuoys,” he said. “We developed this sonobuoy that can be dropped from 30,000 feet and from as far as 30 miles away.”
The system, called SPAD (sonobuoy precision aerial delivery), utilizes unmanned aerial vehicle concepts, Schickling said.
The company had its wind tunnel SPAD model on display at the 2008 Navy Opportunity Forum in Arlington, Va., earlier this week.
When SPAD is dropped from a plane, a parachute deploys to maintain the sonobuoys speed of descent. At a certain altitude, fins on the rear of SPAD deploy and, using GPS, the sonobuoy is guided to its target. SPAD does not have a motor, Schickling added.
KaZak developed the lattice fins on the back of SPAD. “We got the idea from Russian missiles. Those fins can also be used on other missiles. We have developed a technique to manufacture these very inexpensively,” Schickling said.
While KaZak is developing SPAD under a Navy SBIR, Schickling noted the company has had interest in the technology from both the Air Force and Army.
“Because in the front part of the [canister] you can put anything into it. It could also be a small ordnance that you could target very specific targets. In the case of the Army, [it could deploy] some type of sensor they could drop on land and monitor troop or vehicle movement in enemy territory,” he explained. “We think there are good opportunities going forward.”
KaZak is hoping to get additional funding from lawmakers to test SPAD from a P-3, Schickling said. “We have dropped it from helicopters, but we’d like to test it from the P-3 from 30,000 feet. That testing is very expensive.”
SPAD is currently in phase II of the Navy SBIR effort.
“We just got an option for additional applications, so Phase II goes an additional two years,” Schickling said. “We got an option for the SPAD, and then another application using the same concept is another option, which pushes it two years.”