MH-60R, mostly used for ASW missions alongside other variants, will be capable of soft-kill against enemy anti-ship missiles. This will add a whole new mission for the late Seahawk variant.
The jammer is Lockheed Martin’s AN/ALQ-248 Advanced Offboard Electronic Warfare (AOEW) pod mounted just near the fuselage. AOEW pod can work in conjunction with the ship’s own radar and ESM systems to detect the missile.
A rendering released by Lockheed Martin suggests that the jamming involves the deception of RF seekers of anti-ship missiles. The company announced a test with AOEW on MH-60R on 12 December 2023.
Involvement of naval helicopters in RF spectrum-related missions also includes designs like the Russian Ka-27 fitted with a long-range radar to act as Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C). Challenges for conducting electronic attacks and AEW&C with helicopters mainly include power generation for the systems and the placement of control consoles inside.
