Boeing has announced that the U.S. Navy has exercised an additional contract option for production and delivery of Ship's Signal Exploitation Equipment (SSEE) Increment F systems.

The $53 million award to Boeing subsidiary Argon ST is for the second lot of full-rate production (FRP) systems. Under this option, Argon ST will build eight systems over a period of 19 months.

"The U.S. Navy surface fleet is continuing to benefit from the advanced signals intelligence offered by SSEE Increment F, and we're pleased to expand deployment of this critical technology," said Joe Carlin, vice president of Argon ST.

"As defense budgets and personnel become constrained, advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems such as SSEE Increment F enable warfighters to make efficient use of their resources."

The next-generation SSEE Increment F systems acquire, identify, locate and analyze signals while using the latest in Field Programmable Gate Array, embedded processing and server network technologies.

Argon ST is part of Electronic and Mission Systems, a Boeing division recently created to focus on the command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) market.

Argon ST is the prime contractor to the Navy for providing signals intelligence systems through the SSEE program, and has been building, delivering and testing SSEE Increment F systems since the program transitioned into the production and deployment phase in March 2010. Work on the second lot of FRP systems will be done primarily at Argon ST's facilities in Newington, Va.