The US Naval Air Systems Command has awarded Lockheed Martin a $181.7 million contract for the delivery and integration of airborne low frequency sonars (ALFS) for Danish and Indian MH-60R Seahawk helicopters.
The contract will see the company deliver 24 ALFS to India and 7 ALFS to Denmark, in addition to 8 ALFS for the US Navy.
All work under the contract is expected to be completed by December 2024.
The contract award comes after the government of Denmark announced in April this year it had ordered torpedoes, ALFS and sonobuoys for its nine MH-60R Seahawk helicopters.
India is buying a total of 24 helicopters under a $2.1 billion deal confirmed by the country in February this year.
Developed by Raytheon, the AN/AQS-22 ALFS is the primary undersea warfare (USW) sensor of the MH-60R multi-mission helicopter. This integrated dipping sonar system enables the MH-60R to accomplish the assigned ASW missions of submarine detection, tracking, localization and classification. It also performs missions relating to acoustic intercept, underwater communications and environmental data acquisition.
The MH-60Rs are in service with the navies of the United States, Australia and Denmark, and are used to perform search and rescue, troop transport, medical evacuation, ship-to-ship replenishment, and humanitarian relief operations, in addition to their primary mission of anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare.
