Lockheed Martin to upgrade Navy MH-60R helicopter fleet with submarine-hunting radar system
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md., 4 Aug. 2016. U.S. Navy anti-submarine warfare (ASW) experts are upgrading the MH-60R ASW helicopter fleet with a special submarine-huntingradar system designed to detect and classify submarine periscopes as they pop briefly out of the water.
Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station announced a $67.7 million contract last week to Lockheed Martin Corp., which manufacturers the MH-60R helicopter, to provide as many as 103 AN/APS-153(V)1 automatic radar periscope detection and discrimination multi-mode radar kits to upgrade the MH-60R fleet.
The APS-153 radar, designed by Telephonics Corp. in Farmingdale, N.Y., is rugged, lightweight, has low-prime power, offers extremely small target detection, high-resolution imaging, and long-range surface search.
Telephonics engineers designed and developed the AN/APS-153(V) for the rugged maritime operating environment of Navy MH-60R helicopter, which the Navy uses for ASW; anti-surface warfare; command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR); surface surveillance; maritime interdiction; combat search and rescue; medical evacuation; logistical support; identification friend or foe; battle damage assessment; naval surface fire support; and imaging.
The AN/APS-153(V) provides the MH-60R and its host ship with persistent littoral and maritime domain awareness. It enables operators to classify detected moving ship targets under night and restricted visibility using its high-resolution inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) mode.
ISAR enables the MH-60R to operate outside of visual and lethal range of a potential enemy and to identify detected targets when images are combined with other intelligence.
The MH-60R helicopter controls the AN/APS-153(V radar through the rotorcraft's mission computer with returns shown on 8-by-10-inch color multi-function displays. The Lockheed Martin Corp. Mission Systems and Training segment in Owego, N.Y., integrates the AN/APS-153(V) into the MH-60R avionics suite.
The AN/APS-153(V) weapons replacement assembly integrates an IFF interrogator, which provides Mark XII IFF modes 1, 2, 3A and 4 to identify friendly IFF-equipped aircraft, surface ships, and submarines.
The MH-60R helicopter can send visual information from the AN/APS-153(V) to its host ship via the helicopter's C-band data link. Future upgrades to the radar may include capabilities like low probability of intercept; ISAR automatic classification aids; synthetic aperture radar; Mode 5/Mode S IFF; and weather.
On this contract Lockheed Martin will do the work of integrating the AN/APS-153(V) onto the MH-60R helicopter in Farmingdale, Owego, and Syracuse, N.Y., and Oldsmar, Fla., and should be finished by September 2020.
For more information contact Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training online at www.lockheedmartin.com/us/mst, Telephonics at www.telephonics.com, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.
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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.
