Page 13 - ADT APRIL - MAY 2021 Online Magazine

cess of this manned-unmanned trial highlights allowing AW159s equipped with the system to perform an ESM role. [ ROTOCRAFT ]
that Leonardo and the UK MoD are investing The twin-engine multi-role AW159 is also operated by the British
together in the future of UK rotorcraft engi- Army, the Republic of Korea Navy and the Philippine Navy and
neering and it demonstrates further the value over 50,000 flight hours have been logged by the helicopter fleet.
of a long-term partnering approach in terms
of capability development,” said Nick Whitney, MH-60R Notches Up Another Order
Managing Director of Leonardo Helicopters The Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) has decided to order 12
(UK). MH-60R Seahawk’s under a USD447 million order in April. The
new helicopters will add to its existing fleet of AW159 Wildcats
The Leonardo solution allows the Wildcat and Korea becomes the seventh country to acquire the highly
crew to control both the flight path and pay- sophisticated naval helicopter, joining the United States, Australia,
load of the UAV (a capability known as Level Denmark, Saudi Arabia, India and Greece. “We are pleased the
of Interoperability (LOI) 4) using an efficient government of the Republic of Korea has selected the U.S. Navy's
and effective task based Human Machine MH-60R. We are confident that this aircraft will provide unparalleled
Interface (HMI), rather than the more opera- capability to the Korean Navy for years to come,” said Captain Todd
tor intensive approaches employed on other Evans, H-60 Multi-Mission Helicopter Programme Manager. The
systems. MUMT undoubtedly has the potential ROKN will use its MH-60Rs to perform anti-surface and anti-sub-
to be a game-changing capability for military marine warfare missions, along with performing secondary missions
helicopters operating in the Land environment, including vertical replenishment and search and rescue operations.
increasing both situational awareness and
survivability. Teaming of manned aircraft with The U.S. Navy was the first to order the type in 2006 and since then
unmanned air systems (Manned Unmanned its fleet of MH-60Rs has grown to 289. The MH-60R ‘Romeo’ is the
Teaming MUMT) enhances air support capabil- cornerstone of the Navy’s Helicopter Concept of Operations, with
ity in both the Land and Maritime environments. Anti-Submarine Warfare and Surface Warfare as its primary mis-
It also enables extended and complex opera- sions. The helicopter’s secondary missions include Electromagnetic
tions to be conducted with a mix of platforms Warfare, Search and Rescue, Vertical Replenishment, Naval Surface
and systems.

The AW159 has the capability to autonomously
detect, identify and attack targets on land and
at sea and features state-of-the-art systems.
This includes Leonardo’s Seaspray multi-mode
AESA radar, which has a patented small-target
detection mode that can identify submarine
periscopes, as well as a sonar, EO sensors,
anti-surface missiles and torpedoes. Leonardo
also offers the SAGE electronic support mea-
sure, on-board the AW159 helicopter as part
of its integrated and integrated electronic war-
fare Defensive Aids Suite (DAS). The SAGE
system is already in service on-board Republic
of Korea AW159s. SAGE uses the latest Radio-
Frequency (RF) technology to geo-locate
radar-emitting sources from a single platform,

ASIAN DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY April/May 2021 | 13