PAUL LEWIS / WASHINGTON DC
Royal Navy and Thales study potential role expansion for AEW7 after helicopter proves capabilities in Iraq combat debut
The UK Royal Navy and Thales are looking at further growth applications for the Searchwater 2000AEW radar-equipped Westland Sea King AEW7 airborne early warning (AEW) helicopter following the recent success of the system in support of coalition ground forces fighting around Basra in southern Iraq.
Due to a lack of Iraqi fixed- or rotary-wing threats, the shipboard AEW assets switched roles to provide airborne battlefield command and control for the UK's 3Commando Brigade and US Marine Corps laying siege to Basra. Sensor data from the X-band radar was relayed to Royal Marine and USMC ground stations via a Link 16 tactical datalink supplementing the two onboard tactical operators.
"The AEW7 proved extremely effective... it provided a capability nothing else could provide," says Michael Attfield, Thales Sensors head of marketing, radar and AEW mission systems. With the RN having delayed by two years to 2014 the planned fielding of the eventual Maritime Airborne Surveillance Capability (MASC) successor to the Sea King AEW7, Thales is suggesting a number of enhancements as a building block towards MASC.
With several lessons learned, MASC is expected to include airborne ground surveillance capability. Thales and the RN are considering options for improving Searchwater 2000AEW's range and surface detection capability. The latest version of the radar includes Doppler beam sharpening to improve performance overland, a moving target indicator and target classification.
There is flexibility to add capabilities such as synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and inverse SAR, which are features of the Searchwater 2000MR maritime patrol version of the radar planned for the BAE Systems Nimrod MRA4. "As part of the future growth of this radar, we'll look at an active phased array," says Attfield. A further development of Searchwater 2000, for a new platform such as the EH101 or Bell Boeing V-22 tiltrotor, is one alternative to developing an all-new radar.
Meanwhile, the RN has asked for pricing to convert another two Sea Kings into AEW7s following the fatal collision and loss of two machines during the Iraq conflict. The navy has ordered 13 AEW7s comprising 10 upgraded AEW2s and three Sea King HAS5s, the last of which will be delivered next year.
Source: Flight International
