After a successful first deployment last year, the MH-60R Seahawk helicopter is receiving avionics improvements to address technical issues and to upgrade the helicopter’s capabilities.
Capt. Dean Peters, the Navy’s H-60 program manager, told reporters May 4 at the Navy League’s 2010 Sea-Air-Space Exposition that the helicopter’s electronic surveillance measures (ESM) system will be tweaked to cancel out interference with friendly electronic emitters. The adjustment will be incorporated in Lot 5 production aircraft, which will deploy this year with Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 77.
An active vibration-control system, which makes for a smoother ride and reduces maintenance requirements, will be installed in the aircraft. Peters also said the helicopter’s AAS-44C infrared sensor is being upgraded to improve its ability to track at longer ranges.
Lockheed Martin is working to reduce the weight of the helicopter’s acoustic processor by 45 pounds through a technology-insert program by combining systems in fewer boxes, according to George Barton, Lockheed Martin’s director of naval helicopter programs.
The first round of tests of the Automatic Radar Periscope Detection and Discrimination System modification to the aircraft’s APS-147 radar is in testing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The system will be fielded in 2013.
The Navy plans to procure a total of 298 MH-60Rs. India has communicated a desire to purchase 16 MH-60Rs, with some of its own data link, radio and identification friend-or-foe systems. The MH-60R will be demonstrated to Indian officials later this year. Australia also is considering the purchase of 24 helicopters. Other nations expressing interest include Denmark, the Republic of Korea and Saudi Arabia.
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