Thu, Jul 15, 2010
Enhanced Airborne Surveillance And Control Capability For
Military Helicopters
AgustaWestland and Thales took the wraps off an enhanced
Airborne Surveillance and Control (ASaC) capability, at RNAS
Yeovilton last week during the Fleet Air Arm's annual Air Day. The
low cost, low risk capability builds upon the combat proven Sea
King Mk7 ASaC Cerberus mission system and Searchwater 2000 radar,
to provide enhanced operational effectiveness through the use of
the next generation AgustaWestland AW101 helicopter.
AgustaWestland and Thales have teamed to jointly explore the
potential for this capability in advance of the anticipated MoD
requirement to replace the Sea King Mk7 ASaC aircraft after its
planned retirement in 2016.
Nick Whitney, Senior VP UK Government Business Unit,
AgustaWestland said "The AgustaWestland solution will deliver an
enhanced, cost effective and low risk capability which exemplifies
the role of an ASaC capability fit for the 21st century. The
solution we have developed capitalises on the substantial
investment already made by the MoD in both the helicopter and the
excellent Thales Cerberus mission system and radar."
Ed Lowe, Chief Operating Officer of Thales UK said, "Sea King Mk
7 is a highly successful ASaC platform which has proved itself over
land and sea. Thales looks forward to working with
AgustaWestland to develop a proposal to transfer our Cerberus
mission system to the AW101 platform."
The palletized Searchwater 2000 radar is deployed through the
rear ramp aperture when in operation and stows in the cabin when
not in use, enabling rapid transit between tasking. Two aft-facing
modernized mission crew stations are located at the forward end of
the cabin.
The equipment also enables a front line re-role capability
delivering greater aircraft utility. The ASaC equipment could be
role fitted to all AW101 utility variants.
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