Sikorsky to support nine MH-60R maritime helicopters to Danish navy in $115.7 million contract
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md., 24 June 2014. Helicopter designers at Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. in Stratford, Conn., will support nine MH-60R Seahawk multi-mission maritime helicopters for the Royal Danish Navy under terms of a $115.7 million contract announced Friday.
The foreign military sales contract was awarded on the Danish navy's behalf by the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md. The contract involves non-recurring engineering and program support for the nine Seahawk helicopters.
Sikorsky won a $135 million contract in May 2013 to build the nine MH-60R Seahawk helicopters for the Danish navy. This contract is for tasks such as installing hydraulic deck lock systems to secure the aircraft to the ship; troop seats; wire strike protection, VOR-class instrument landing systems; an HF radio antenna; and external life raft pod, Navy officials say.
The MH-60R, also operated by the U.S. Navy, is the latest version of the Sikorsky Seahawk -- based on the U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopter, as well as on a member of the Sikorsky S-70 family.
The multimission helicopter has sophisticated sensors, and is designed for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare. The MH-60R is designed to operate from frigates, destroyers, cruisers, and aircraft carriers. It is an airborne multi-mission naval platform. The helicopter has a hinged tail to reduce its necessary storage area aboard ships.
In addition to its anti-submarine and anti-ship capabilities, the helicopter can handle naval special warfare insertion; search and rescue; combat search and rescue; vertical replenishment; and medical evacuation missions. The aircraft has a rescue hoist for search and rescue.
The helicopter can fly as fast as 144 knots at altitudes to nearly 15,000 feet. Its avionics include Enhanced Advanced Flight Control System (AFCS) with naval modules and coupled hover capability, as well as four our 8-by-10-inch color multifunction mission displays that are sunlight readable and night vision device capable.
The MH-60R cockpit also has secure VHF/UHF communication; inertial navigation system; satellite communications; data link; and accommodation for forward-looking infrared sensors and night-vision goggles.
The MH-60R uses many sensors, including the ASE package, MTS-FLIR, the AN/APS-147 multi-mode radar/IFF interrogator, an advanced airborne fleet data link, and an airborne active sonar. The helicopter includes instrumentation based on the MH-60S glass cockpit, and uses digital monitors instead of an array of gauges and dials. The aircraft can be armed with Mk-54 torpedoes and Hellfire missiles.
Related: Denmark to order nine MH-60R Seahawk helicopters
The Royal Danish Navy operates nine frigates and four large patrol vessels. Presumably each of the nine MH-60R helicopters on order are for the Danish frigates, which consist of Iver Huitfeldt-class air defense frigates, Absalon-class combat support frigates, and Thetis-class frigates.
The Danish government finalized its intent to buy the nine MH-60R helicopters in late 2012 as part of the country's Maritime Helicopter Replacement program. All nine aircraft will be delivered to the Danish government by 2018.
On this contract Sikorsky will do the work in Stratford, Conn.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; and various locations inside and outside the Continental U.S., and should be finished by July 2018.
For more information contact Sikorsky Aircraft online at www.sikorsky.com, the Royal Danish Navy at http://forsvaret.dk/sok/eng, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.
John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
