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Teledyne Webb: Milestone of U.S. Navy LBS-Glider Program

07/12/2011

Teledyne Webb Research (TWR) reportedly reached the second production milestone in the Littoral Battlespace Sensing – Glider program with the U.S. Navy. Along with Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc of Huntsville, Alabama, and the University of Washington – Applied Physics Lab, the Teledyne companies have delivered the 15 Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Gliders to the Navy’s Program Executive Office for C4I. The LRIP gliders have passed their

acceptance testing and the Milestone Decision Authority has approved entry into Full Rate Production (FRP). The first FRP option, if exercised, calls for the production of 35 additional gliders. The contract provides for up to

150 gliders in total. The value of the contract, if fully optioned, is just over $53.1 M. The design and development phase of the contract was completed in August of 2010 and the Low Rate Production contract was awarded in the

fall of 2010.
“We are extremely proud to have the Slocum glider selected by the U.S. Navy for this important program. The glider has been a workhorse in many programs. Our recent award of both the coastal and open ocean glider programs for the

Ocean Observation Initiative (OOI) of the National Science Foundation further demonstrates the reputation of the gliders as versatile, reliable, and efficient“, said Thomas W. Altshuler, General Manager of Teledyne Webb

Research.
The Navy will use both deep and shallow water gliders in the LBS-G program to acquire critical oceanographic data that will improve positioning of fleets during naval maneuvers. The gliders are low cost, use minimal power, and can

remain at sea for long periods of time.
Gliders were first conceived by Douglas Webb, the founder of Webb Research and a former researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The Slocum G2 Glider is a torpedo-shaped autonomous underwater winged vehicle that measures two meters in length and uses changes in buoyancy along with its wings and tail-fin steering to move through the water.