PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. – Airborne communications experts at L3Harris Technologies will provide digital datalinks to enable the U.S. Navy MH-60R multimission helicopter to share its sensor information in real time with surface warships under terms of a $10 million order announced this week.
Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., are asking L-3Harris Communication Systems-West in Salt Lake City to build eight common datalink Hawklink AN/SRQ-4 systems for the MH-60R helicopter.
The L3Harris rugged AN/SRQ-4 Hawklink shipboard terminal is aboard Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and Ticonderoga-class cruisers, and provides command and control, sensor data transfer, datalink operation, and built-in test, L3Harris officials say.
It enables surface ships and the MH-60R helicopter to share information from radar, video, network, and acoustic data interfaces, and enables naval personnel to exploit aircraft sensor data in real time to extend situational awareness over the horizon. It has a range of about 100 nautical miles.
Related: Harris Corp. tests U.S. Navy MH-60R helicopter Hawklink data link
The Ku-band communications system runs on an open-systems architecture with touch-screen interfaces. Its 43-inch direction a antenna offers auto-switching between open-loop pointing and closed-loop tracking, depending on the range between the helicopter and the ship.
The terminal is interoperable with the AN/SQQ-89 warship undersea warfare combat system and shipboard navigation sensors. It is software-configurable with Common Data Link (CDL) waveforms, and is compatible with SAU7000 digital messaging interfaces.
In addition to the MH-60R helicopter, the system also can work with the Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft, and the P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft.
On this order L3Harris will do the work in Salt Lake City, and should be finished by December 2022. For more information contact L3Harris Communications-West online at www2.l3t.com/csw, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.
