Posted on 07/14/2010 6:50:40 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
PICTURES: Royal Navy offered AEW-configured AW101 By Craig Hoyle
AgustaWestland and Thales have stepped up their efforts to promote a development of the AW101 to replace the UK Royal Navy's venerable Sea King 7 airborne surveillance and control (ASaC) aircraft.
As the incumbent suppliers of the RN's organic airborne early warning capability, the companies have joined forces to offer the AW101 Merlin equipped with Thales's Searchwater 2000 radar and Cerberus mission system.
The RN's current 11 Sea King ASaC helicopters are due to be retired from use in 2016, and a new type is needed to operate from its two Queen Elizabeth-class future aircraft carriers. The selected type will be deployed alongside the UK's Lockheed Martin F-35B Joint Strike Fighters, as part of an embarked air wing of up to 40 aircraft.
© AgustaWestland
AgustaWestland says the Searchwater system's distinctive radar "bag" will be deployed through a rear ramp aperture during operations, providing 360° surveillance coverage, or else stored inside the aircraft when not in use.
The Cerberus payload will be installed on a pallet, and two mission crew stations located towards the front of the aircraft's cabin. New capabilities would include the integration of a Link 16 datalink.
"The solution we have developed capitalises on the substantial investment already made by the MoD in both the helicopter and the Cerberus mission system and radar," says Nick Whitney, senior vice-president for AgustaWestland's UK government business unit.
© AgustaWestland
Thales UK chief operating officer Ed Lowe says the design offers "a low-cost, low-risk method of delivering ASaC with no capability gap".
The RN's current rotorcraft inventory includes 37 Merlin HM1s, as listed in Flightglobal's HeliCAS database. These are used for multi-mission tasks, including anti-submarine warfare operations.
Meanwhile, AgustaWestland will give a show debut to its AW159 Lynx Wildcat at the Farnborough air show. The new model is being developed for use by the RN and British Army.
I’m sure Spain would be an additional customer for this platform, and probably India as well.
Well that aircraft is going to have some interesting pseudonyms among the crews that fly it.
Does that come in chrome plate?..............
Not so fast-the Searchwater system has been around for a while now and does have competitors. The Italians have a new variant of the EH-101 fitted for AEW and India uses the even uglier Russian KA-31.
The AEW radar antennas is also a big part of its silhouette.
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Are any of the new candidates amphibious? Might be nice to be able to turn a ditching into a not-ditching.
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