Boeing subsidiary Argon ST has received a $14.8 million follow-on award under its contract for the U.S. Navy's Surface Ship Torpedo Defense (SSTD) program. The firm, fixed-price agreement provides continuous production and delivery of new SSTD systems, as well as optional cost-plus-fixed-fee enhancements to existing SSTD systems, over a period of five years.

"The Navy has relied on Argon ST for advanced signals intelligence and countermeasure systems for almost a decade," said Joe Carlin, Argon ST vice president.

"We are committed to upgrading current systems and developing the next generation of SSTD in order to protect sailors and Marines and help them complete their missions."

Argon ST won its original contract for the AN/SLQ-25C system - commonly called "Nixie" - from the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command in 2006.

Argon ST is the sole contractor for the design, development and manufacturing of the passive, electro-acoustic decoy system, which is used as a countermeasure against acoustic homing torpedoes.

Work on the new systems and the enhancements will be done primarily at Argon ST's facilities in Lemont Furnace and Smithfield, Pa.