Columbia City's Erapsco wins $55 million Navy contract

Erapsco Inc. in Columbia City was awarded a $55.4-million contract from the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in Patuxent River, Md., to produce more than 65,000 sonobuoys over the next three years.

Erapsco is a joint venture between Ultra Electronics Holdings PLC's Undersea Sensor Systems Inc. subsidiary, which also is located in Columbia City, and Sparton Electronics Florida Inc., a subsidiary of Schaumburg, Ill.-based Sparton Corp.

According to an announcement about the contract, Erapsco will make: 3,211 AN/SSQ-36B sonobuoys; 51,733 AN/SSQ-53F sonobuoys; and 10,286 AN/SSQ-62E sonobuoys. Fifty-three percent of the work will be done in DeLeon Springs, Fla., with the remaining 47 percent will be done in Columbia City.

Production of the sonobuoys is expected to be completed by April 2014.