MRR: Project Description
Background
The HH-60Js, which first entered service in 1990, are equipped with avionics hardware that is obsolete and becoming unsupportable due to a lack of production components and discontinued manufacturing sources. Equipment software support for current aircraft systems are no longer economical to maintain or available. Over the years, the HH-60J’s avionics subsystems, auto-pilot, communications, navigation equipment, and flight instruments, have been plagued by a rapid increase in equipment failure. Recognizing that this helicopter would remain the workhorse for Coast Guard aviation, the Coast Guard is upgrading the HH-60J to the HH-60T.
Upgrades
KODIAK, Alaska - An MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter cockpit. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Charly Hengen.
Although the H-60’s outward appearance will not change significantly, it will be a completely different aircraft on the inside.
Discrete Segment 1
Discrete segment 1 includes a common avionics architecture system (CAAS) in the cockpit, which provides fully integrated flight and mission management capabilities. Using five multi-function display screens, aircrews can display radar and forward-looking infrared data, monitor the traffic collision avoidance system and view imagery fed into the cockpit from the rescue hoist camera.
The MH-60T has many of the same mission system components as the MH-65C Dolphin Short Range Recovery Helicopter, and its CAAS is similar to the cockpit avionics installed on the HC-144A Ocean Sentry Maritime Patrol Aircraft and the HC-130J Hercules Long Range Surveillance Aircraft. These common systems afford improvements in aircraft logistics, training and maintenance.
The Airborne Use of Force (AUF) upgrade—which equips the aircraft with a 7.62 mm machine gun for firing warning shots and a .50-caliber long-range rifle for precise targeting, such as disabling the outboard engines on a noncompliant go-fast boat—has been completed on all aircraft under a separate project. The AUF package also provides ballistic armor for aircrew protection and upgraded communications sub-systems for better interoperability with other U.S. Department of Homeland Security components.
Discrete Segment 2
KODIAK, Alaska - A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter sits on the ramp at the air station July 15, 2011. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Charly Hengen.
Discrete segment 2 includes a fully integrated electro-optical/ infrared sensor system (ESS) with a new Trakkabeam searchlight permanently mounted outside the pilot’s door.
ESS also provides aircrews with enhanced capabilities to locate, identify and track surface targets day or night, which is a critical capability for both search and rescue and law enforcement missions. Enhanced radar and optical sensors also contribute to an improved common operating picture and increased maritime domain awareness. In order to provide a common system across the service’s rotary wing fleet, a new ESS package is also being installed in the MH-65C.
Other upgrades include the helicopter integrated data storage, which stores information from the ESS system, and the helicopter airborne video system, which records audio and video from the ESS and the hoist-mounted camera that covers the hoisting area.
Discrete Segment 3
Discrete segment 3 will upgrade the helicopter’s search radar sensor system (RSS). The RSS for the HH-60 has been deferred due to budgeting priorities outlined in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2013-2017 Five-Year Capital Investment Plan.
Discrete Segment 4
Discrete segment 4 will incorporate additional C4ISR capabilities and common operating picture connectivity. Discrete segment 4 has been deferred due to budgeting priorities outlined in the FY 2013-2017 Five-Year Capital Investment Plan.
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