Navy electronic warfare helicopters to help defend ships from missile attack

The U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin Corp. have wrapped up a preliminary design review of a helicopter-based electronic warfare (EW) pod designed to help ship crews detect and respond to anti-ship missile threats. Lockheed Martin officials say their company's Advanced Off-Board Electronic Warfare (AOEW) Active Mission Payload AN/ALQ-248 system aboard MH-60 helicopters provides the aircraft with surveillance and EW capabilities against anti-ship threats with radio-frequency countermeasures. AOEW can function independently or work with the ship's SEWIP Block 2 AN/SLQ-32(V)6 electronic surveillance sensor to detect and assess the trajectory of incoming missile threats.