Navy orders AN/ARQ-59 tactical data link equipment from L-3 to link helicopters with surface ships
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md., 27 Jan. 2015. Command and control experts at L-3 Communications Systems-West in Salt Lake City will provide advanced digital communications to enable airborne terminals to share information with land- and ship-based data terminals under terms of a contract modification announced last week.
Officials of the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., awarded a $22.7 million contract modification to L-3 Communications Thursday for the AN/ARQ-59 Common Data Link (CDL) Hawklink system for the Navy's MH-60R Seahawk multi-mission maritime helicopters.
The L-3 Ku-Band AN/ARQ-59 airborne data link provides command and control (C2), sensor data transfer, data link operation, and built-in-test for high reliability-communications in mission-critical applications by providing radar, acoustic, video, and network interfaces for the MH-60R helicopter.
CDL Hawklink provides interoperability with Common Data Link terminals used by U.S. and Allied Forces worldwide, L-3 officials say. The contract modification calls for L-3 to provide 29 AN/ARQ-59 radio terminal sets, 11 retrofit AN/ARQ-59 radio terminals, and 12 weapon replaceable assembly kits.
Related: Navy chooses shipboard data link from L3 Communications-West to communicate with UAVs
The L-3 Hawklink AN/ARQ-59 airborne terminal is a wideband communications system for the MH-60R helicopter that delivers real-time acoustic sonobuoy data, radar data, and full-motion video to nearby surface warships.
The system has dual antennas and automatic antenna switching to ensure that the MH-60R helicopter has continual connectivity to the surface data link, regardless of aircraft orientation.
The programmable waveforms of the AN/ARQ-59 enable interoperability with U.S. Navy shipboard terminals aboard the Littoral Combat Ship, aircraft carriers, Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, and Ticonderoga-class cruisers.
AN/ARQ-59 helicopter terminals can be configured to work together with several generations of Common Data Link surface terminals deployed by the U.S. Army and Air Force, as well as with many allies and coalition countries, L-3 officials say.
Related: Navy chooses AN/SRQ-4 ship-to-helicopter datalink radios from L3 for situational awareness
The helicopter terminals support anti-submarine warfare (ASW) ad anti-ship surveillance and targeting; can communicate with shipboard terminals at distances as far as 100 nautical miles; and transmits video and imaging from the helicopter's electro-optical camera, multi-mode radar, sonar, and electronic warfare systems back to surface ships.
On this contract modification L-3 will do the work in Salt Lake City; Atlanta; Mountain View, Calif.; Exeter, N.H.; Phoenix; El Cajon, Calif.; Oxnard, Calif.; Salinas, Calif.; Sunnyvale, Calif.; Boise, Idaho; Derby, Kan.; Littleton Mass.; Stow, Mass.; Minnetonka, Minn.; Skokie, Ill.; Dover, N.H.; Bohemia, N.Y.; York Haven, Pa.; Providence, R.I.; Cedar Park, Texas; Fort Worth, Texas; and Toronto, and should be finished by November 2016.
For more information contact L-3 Communications Systems-West online at www.l-3com.com/csw, 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.
