Navy asks L3Harris for kits to install digital datalinks for allied helicopters to share communications
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. – Airborne communications experts at L3Harris Technologies will provide kits to enable six digital datalinks to enable the MH-60R multimission helicopter to share its sensor information in real time with surface warships under terms of a $10.4 million order announced on Monday.
Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., are asking L-3Harris Communication Systems-West in Salt Lake City to build six common datalink Hawklink AN/SRQ-4 kits and components for MH-60R helicopter operated by U.S. military allies.
The L3Harris rugged AN/SRQ-4 Hawklink shipboard terminal is aboard Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and Ticonderoga-class cruisers, and provides command and control, sensor data transfer, datalink operation, and built-in test, L3Harris officials say.
It enables surface ships and MH-60R helicopters to share information from radar, video, network, and acoustic data interfaces, and enables naval personnel to exploit aircraft sensor data in real time to extend situational awareness over the horizon. It has a range of about 100 nautical miles.
The Ku-band communications system runs on an open-systems architecture with touch-screen interfaces. Its 43-inch direction a antenna offers auto-switching between open-loop pointing and closed-loop tracking, depending on the range between the helicopter and the ship.
The terminal is interoperable with the AN/SQQ-89 warship undersea warfare combat system and shipboard navigation sensors. It is software-configurable with Common Data Link (CDL) waveforms, and is compatible with SAU7000 digital messaging interfaces.
In addition to the MH-60R helicopter, the system also can work with the Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft, and the P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft.
On this order L3Harris will do the work in Salt Lake City, and should be finished by December 2022. For more information contact L3Harris Communications-West online at www.l3harris.com/capabilities/defense, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
