Thales Sensors has handed over to the UK Royal Navy the first two of 13 Westland Sea King AEW7 airborne early warning helicopters. As with the in-service Sea King AEW2A, the AEW7 uses a Thales Searchwater radar, although the new sensor has a 30-40% range improvement and a pulse-Doppler mode in addition to the earlier system's pulse envelope and maritime surveillance modes. The AEW7 also has Link 16 datalink, a new man-machine interface (MMI), upgraded communications and IFF interrogator.
Meanwhile, Thales Underwater Systems has signed up Canadian companies MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) and Hermes Electronics as part of its plan to offer the Flash sonar for the Canadian Maritime Helicopter Programme. MDA will be responsible for the MMI and sonobuoy processing while Ultra Electronics-owned Hermes will manufacture and integrate Flash in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Canada needs 28 new helicopters to replace ageing Sikorsky CH-124/A Sea Kings.
Source: Flight International
