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Feature Report
December 2008 |
Beyond the Navy's Seahawk helicopter |
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ABOVE: A Seahawk helicopter comes into land onboard HMAS
by Nigel Pittaway
The Australian Navy needs to identify a replacement for the Seahawk helicopter, and it needs an interim type helicopter to replace the projected capability lost when the Seasprite program was cancelled.
However, until the Government's Defence White Paper is released next year, all projections are mere speculation.
Australian requirements for a shipboard helicopter are unique, as RAN ships are required often to operate autonomously over great and lonely stretches of water.
Indeed, this was one of the key requirements of the Seasprite program: to provide an autonomous over-the-horizon surface search and engagement capability.
Therefore, our interests go far beyond the desire to buy something because it provides a degree of commonality with other helicopters. Arguably, it will be sensors and weapon system commonality, and not just airframe similarity that will be of greatest benefit on operations.
US helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky are marketing two advanced versions of their proven Seahawk design to countries such as Australia.
MH-60R
The MH-60R is the next-generation Seahawk for the US Navy, and is currently entering service.
It is designed around the Lockheed Martin 'Common Cockpit' with four 8"x10" colour Multi-Function Displays (MFD) and is equipped with the Telephonics AN/APS-147 ISAR radar (with embedded IFF), Lockheed Martin AN/ALQ-210 ESM suite and Raytheon's AN/AAS-44(v) Infrared Laser Detecting-Ranging Tracking Set and AQS-22 Airborne Low Frequency Sonar (ALFS).
USN standard weapons are the Mk.50 torpedo for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and AGM- 114 Hellfire for Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW) operations.
Lockheed Martin, as contractor, will supply 254 MH-60R to the US Navy between now and 2015.
S-70B INTERNATIONAL
Although essentially the same airframe as the MH-60R, the S-70B International offers a Rockwell Collins Avionics Management system, comprising four MFDs in the cockpit and a fifth at the Tactical Systems Officer's station in the cabin.
What is unique is that the Rockwell Collins solution does not have a central mission computer, instead it utilises a redundant PowerPC processor in each MFD (there are two processors per MFD), connected by an Ethernet databus. This Local Area Network approach is, says Rockwell Collins, much faster than the traditional MIL-STD-1553 Databus application.
The S-70B International is also fitted with a Telephonics AN/APS-143B(v)3 radar (with ISAR provisions), Northrop Grumman LR-100 ESM, the same AN/AAS-44 system used in the MH-60R and the choice of either L-3 Ocean's AQS-18A Dipping Sonar or HELRAS DS-100 Long-Range Active Sonar.
Weapons offered include Mk.46 and Eurotorp A244 torpedoes, AGM-114 Hellfire and Kongsberg Penguin Mk.2 Mod.7 littoral Air to Surface Missile.
International customers to date comprise Turkey (17 helicopters, as their Lot 2 order for Seahawks) and Singapore (six aircraft).
ANALYSIS
Both the MH-60R and S-70B International are fully network-capable and enjoy advanced and integrated avionics suites. Both helicopters have airframe similarity with the current S-70B Seahawks flown by the RAN, and both are designed for ASW and ASuW from the outset. All three helicopters (including NH 90) have a dipping sonar as standard, a capability lost to the RAN when the Sea Kings were converted to the utility role in the 1990s and which would require a great deal of training and development to recreate.
The opportunity to purchase an airframe (MH-60R) that has total commonality with the US Navy would provide the opportunity to access the international supply chain and maintenance, a real advantage when deployed to far corners of the world's oceans. These supportability benefits should not be underestimated. Australia has already had limited exposure to the capabilities offered by the APS-143B(v)3 radar on the S-70B International, as the same unit was fitted to the Seasprite, and is one of the radars on offer for the NH 90 NFH.
What it will boil down to of course, is just how closely these two variants (along with NH 90) match the RAN"s requirements. The weapons suites on offer in the baseline MH-60R and S-70B International versions are interesting, primarily because the export version offers a greater range than the standard USN MH-60R. The fact that the former is offered with the Eurotorp A244 torpedo and Penguin ASM would seem to better suit the RANs requirements. The Penguin was selected as the primary air-to-surface weapon for the Seasprite by the Navy, as it has a greater range than Hellfire. If the requirements for such a weapon are still relevant, then the S-70B International deserves consideration.
Either way, Sikorsky has spent a great deal of effort on the potential RAN requirement and is no doubt awaiting the White Paper results with keen anticipation.
Below: A US Navy MH-60R fires a Hellfire missile. (US Navy) |
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